Burns Night: Alexander McCall Smith pens new version of Robert Burns classic To a Mouse

Here is his poem.

To a mouse, again

Poor creature, modest and undemanding,

Writer Alexander McCall Smith. Picture: Kirsty Anderson

Inhabitant of a murine world

Whose citizens ask little enough:

A scrap of cheese, even discarded rind,

Is a banquet for these small folk;

Your footprint on our shared earth

Is so tiny, undetectable to most eyes,

Usually obliterated by our stamping around,

By our destroying of all the little corners

In which your civilization flourishes;

By our covering with concrete of all your hidey-holes,

Those nurseries in which you raise

Your timid, bright-eyed family.

A gulf keeps us apart – the immensity

Of our pride, our greed, our lack of interest

In small and furry beings who cannot

Be made to pay in some way;

We shall never meet, you and I,

On equal terms, in friendship,

And yet I send you this – my love,

Although it may mean nothing to you,

And say, as well, I’m truly sorry;

Perhaps one day we’ll learn at last

To tread a bit more carefully, perhaps.

- This poem has been written specially by Alexander McCall Smith for a fundraising auction being held at the Edinburgh Lord Provost’s Burns Supper on Friday, January 26 in aid of OneCity Trust. All funds raised to go to grant making activities in 2024.