Explore "Birthday Ode for 31st December, 1787" by Robert Burns on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The last birthday of Prince Charles Edward.
Afar the illustrious Exile roams, / Whom kingdoms on this day should hail; / An inmate in the casual shed, / On transient pity's bounty fed, / Haunted by busy memory's bitter tale! / Beasts of the forest have their savage homes, / But He, who should imperial purple wear, / Owns not the lap of earth where rests his royal head! / His wretched refuge, dark despair, / While ravening wrongs and woes pursue, / And distant far the faithful few / Who would his sorrows share.