Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie
O, what panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee
Wi' murd'ring pattle!
I'm truly sorry Man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union
An' justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion
An' fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave
Rough English translation: 
 I’m truly sorry man’s dominion Has broken Nature’s social union, And justifies that ill opinion Which makes thee startle At me, thy poor, earth born companion And fellow mortal! 
 
 Burns acknowledges that the mouse is abiding nature by being in the ground, while he’s trying to control nature’s course by planting the field. Thus the mouse’s anguish is justified. He takes the relationship with the mouse to a personal level by apologizing for the entirety of mankind. The speaker represents all of mankind while the mouse represents the whole natural world. The old English use of the word “thee” shows friendliness and familiarity the speaker as with the mouse. 
 Burns refers to"Man’s dominion" compromising the integrity of nature, and the specific instance of the speaker destroying the mouse’s home. He also identifies an “ill opinion” of the mouse “at me,” suggesting the mouse as being predisposed against man——nature predisposed against man. 
 The poem was composed during the  Industrial Revolution , furthering the idea of man disturbing the natural environment. 
 In the last two lines, as follows … “At me, thy poor, earth-born companion And fellow mortal!” … Burns gives the speaker a voice similar to the tone commonly used by the Romantic poets. Throughout the poem there is an emphasis on the strained relationship between nature and man. The speaker desires a stronger relationship with nature, and shows it by considering one of its smallest creatures as a fellow mortal and companion worthy of his empathy. 
 It is also worth noting, here, that the mouse in the poem is female. This stanza, in itself, is not specific in any way to mice or animals: indeed, it can be read as a statement from a human man to a human woman, expressing sorrow for the true threat men represent to women. This could be seen as an early form of male feminism.
To a Mouse