Daniel Hannan: "O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us"

[compromise]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2xcOL6YPc2Q

[Occam's Banana]

From the poem "To a Louse (On Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church)"


O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An' foolish notion
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us
An' ev'n Devotion

simplified "translation" to modern English:

Oh, that God would give us the very smallest of gifts
To be able to see ourselves as others see us
It would save us from many mistakes
and foolish thoughts
We would change the way we look and gesture
and to how and what we apply our time and attention.