p. 105

Sic-like the howes o’ life to some: Green loans whaur they ne’er fash their thumb. But mark the muckle winds that come Soopin’ an’ cool, Or hear the powrin’ burnie drum In the shilfa’s pool.

The evil wi’ the guid they tak; They ca’ a gray thing gray, no black; To a steigh brae, a stubborn back Addressin’ daily; An’ up the rude, unbieldy track O’ life, gang gaily.

p. 106What you would like’s a palace ha’, Or Sinday parlour dink an’ braw Wi’ a’ things ordered in a raw By denty leddies. Weel, than, ye cannae hae’t: that’s a’  That to be said is.

p. 106

An’ since at life ye’ve taen the grue, An’ winnae blithely hirsle through, Ye’ve fund the very thing to do—  That’s to drink speerit; An’ shüne we’ll hear the last o’ you—  An’ blithe to hear it!

The shoon ye coft, the life ye lead, Ithers will heir when aince ye’re deid; They’ll heir your tasteless bite o’ breid, An’ find it sappy; They’ll to your dulefü’ house succeed, An’ there be happy.

p. 107As whan a glum an’ fractious wean Has sat an’ sullened by his lane Till, wi’ a rowstin’ skelp, he’s taen An’ shoo’d to bed— The ither bairns a’ fa’ to play’n’, As gleg’s a gled.

p. 107

p. 108IX—THE COUNTERBLAST IRONICAL

p. 108

It’s strange that God should fash to frame The yearth and lift sae hie, An’ clean forget to explain the same To a gentleman like me.

It’s

They gutsy, donnered ither folk, Their weird they weel may dree; But why present a pig in a poke To a gentleman like me?

They ither folk their parritch eat An’ sup their sugared tea; But the mind is no to be wyled wi’ meat Wi’ a gentleman like me.

p. 109They ither folk, they court their joes At gloamin’ on the lea; But they’re made of a commoner clay, I suppose, Than a gentleman like me.

p. 109

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