| ON SEEING ONE ON A LADY’S BONNET AT CHURCH |
| 1. |
| Ha! whare ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie ? |
| Your impudence protects you sairly, |
| I canna say but ye strunt rarely |
|
Owre gauze and lace, |
| Tho’ faith! I fear ye dine but sparely |
On sic a place.
|
| 2. |
| Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner, |
| Detested. shunn’d by saunt an’ sinner, |
| How daur ye set your fit upon her— |
|
Sae fine a lady! |
| Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner |
On some poor body.
|
| 3. |
| Swith! in some beggar’s hauffet squattle : |
| There ye may creep, and sprawl, and
sprattle, |
| Wi’ ither kindred,jumping cattle, |
|
In shoals and nations ; |
| Whare horn nor bane ne’er daur unsettle |
Your thick plantations.
|
| 4. |
| Now haud you there! ye’re out o’sight, |
| Below the fatt’rills, snug an’ tight ; |
| Na, faith ye yet! ye’ll no be right, |
|
Till ye’ve got on it— |
| The vera tapmost, tow’ring height |
O’ Miss’s bonnet.
|
| 5. |
| My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out, |
| As plump an’ grey as onie grozet : |
| O for some rank, mercurial rozet, |
|
Or fell, red smeddum, |
| I’d gie ye sic a hearty dose o’t, |
Wad dress your droddum!
|
| 6. |
| I wad na been surpris’d to spy |
| You on an auld wife’s flainen toy ; |
| Or aiblins some bit duddie boy, |
|
On’s wyliecoat ; |
| But Miss’s fine Lunardi! fye! |
How daur ye do’t?
|
| 7. |
| O Jenny, dinna toss your head, |
| An’ set your beauties a’ abread! |
| Ye little ken what cursèd speed |
|
The blastie’s makin! |
| Thae winks an’ finger-ends, I dread, |
Are notice takin!
|
| 8. |
| O wad some Power the giftie gie us |
| To see oursels as ithers 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!
|
| Robert Burns
| Classic Poems |
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