I was born near four miles from Nith-head, Where fourteen years I got my bread; My learning it can soon be told, Ten weeks when I was seven years old With a good old religious wife, Who liv'd a quiet and sober life; Indeed she took of me more pains Than some does now of forty bairns. With my attention, and her skill, I read the Bible no that ill; And when I grew a wee thought mair, I read when I had time to spare. But a' the whole tract of my time, I found myself inclin'd to rhyme; When I see merry company, I sing a song with mirth and glee, And sometimes I the whisky pree, But 'deed its best to let it be. A' my faults I will not tell, I scarcely ken them a' mysel; I've come thro' various scenes of life, Yet never was a married wife. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JANUARY by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS THE COUNTRY FAITH by NORMAN ROWLAND GALE LA BELLA BONA ROBA by RICHARD LOVELACE JEANIE MORRISON by WILLIAM MOTHERWELL DRINKING SONG, FR. THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL by RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN |