I wonder
whether the tailor had also written in verse
J
___________________________________________
Reply To
A Trimming Epistle Received From A Tailor
By Robert
Burns
What ails
ye now, ye lousie bitch
To thresh
my back at sic a pitch?
Losh,
man! hae mercy wi' your natch,
Your
bodkin's bauld;
I didna
suffer half sae much
Frae
Daddie Auld.
What tho'
at times, when I grow crouse,
I gie
their wames a random pouse,
Is that
enough for you to souse
Your
servant sae?
Gae mind
your seam, ye prick-the-louse,
An'
jag-the-flea!
King
David, o' poetic brief,
Wrocht
'mang the lasses sic mischief
As filled
his after-life wi' grief,
An'
bluidy rants,
An' yet
he's rank'd amang the chief
O'
lang-syne saunts.
And
maybe, Tam, for a' my cants,
My wicked
rhymes, an' drucken rants,
I'll gie
auld cloven's Clootie's haunts
An unco
slip yet,
An'
snugly sit amang the saunts,
At
Davie's hip yet!
But,
fegs! the session says I maun
Gae fa'
upo' anither plan
Than
garrin lasses coup the cran,
Clean
heels ower body,
An'
sairly thole their mother's ban
Afore the
howdy.
This
leads me on to tell for sport,
How I did
wi' the Session sort;
Auld
Clinkum, at the inner port,
Cried
three times, "Robin!
Come
hither lad, and answer for't,
Ye're
blam'd for jobbin!"
Wi' pinch
I put a Sunday's face on,
An'
snoov'd awa before the Session:
I made an
open, fair confession-
I scorn't
to lee,
An' syne
Mess John, beyond expression,
Fell foul
o' me.
A
fornicator-loun he call'd me,
An' said
my faut frae bliss expell'd me;
I own'd
the tale was true he tell'd me,
"But,
what the matter?
(Quo' I)
I fear unless ye geld me,
I'll
ne'er be better!"
"Geld
you! (quo' he) an' what for no?
If that
your right hand, leg or toe
Should
ever prove your sp'ritual foe,
You
should remember
To cut it
aff-an' what for no
Your
dearest member?"
"Na,
na, (quo' I,) I'm no for that,
Gelding's
nae better than 'tis ca't;
I'd
rather suffer for my faut
A hearty
flewit,
As sair
owre hip as ye can draw't,
Tho' I
should rue it.
"Or,
gin ye like to end the bother,
To please
us a'-I've just ae ither-
When next
wi' yon lass I forgather,
Whate'er
betide it,
I'll
frankly gie her 't a' thegither,
An' let
her guide it."
But, sir,
this pleas'd them warst of a',
An'
therefore, Tam, when that I saw,
I said
"Gude night," an' cam' awa',
An' left
the Session;
I saw
they were resolved a'
On my
oppression.
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