 | The Poetry of Robert Burns |  |
125
WILLIE WASTLE
I
Willie Wastle dwalt on Tweed,The spot they ca'd it Linkumdoddie.
Willie was a wabster guid
Could stown a clue wi' onie bodie.
He had a wife was dour and din,
O, Tinkler Maidgie was her mither!
Sic a wife as Willie had,
I wad na gie a button for her.
II
She has an e'e (she has but ane),The cat has twa the very colour,
Five rusty teeth, forbye a stump,
A clapper-tongue wad deave a miller;
A whiskin beard about her mou,
Her nose and chin they threaten ither:
Sic a wife as Willie had,
I wad na gie a button for her.
III
She's bow-hough'd, she's hem-shin'd,Ae limpin leg a hand-breed shorter;
She's twisted right, she's twisted left,
To balance fair in ilka quarter;
126
The twin o' that upon her shouther:
Sic a wife as Willie had,
I wad na gie a button for her.
IV
Auld baudrans by the ingle sits,An' wi' her loof her face a-washin;
But Willie's wife is nae sae trig,
She dights her grunzie wi' a hushion;
Her walie nieves like midden-creels,
Her face wad fyle the Logan Water:
Sic a wife as Willie had,
I wad na gie a button for her.
| The Poetry of Robert Burns | |