Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 176: Epitaph For Mr. William Michie

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About This Book

The collection assembles lyrical songs, narrative poems, satirical pieces, epistles, epitaphs, and fragments that shift between convivial drinking verses, tender laments, and comic storytelling. Many lyrics were shaped to traditional airs and preserve vernacular speech, while longer works portray rural labor, domestic scenes, and compassionate encounters with animals. Satire targets religious hypocrisy and social pretension, and several poems take a direct, personal tone of moral reflection or affectionate address. The selections alternate moods and forms, emphasizing melodic phrasing and a versatile technical range.

Epitaph For Mr. William Michie

Schoolmaster of Cleish Parish, Fifeshire. Here lie Willie Michie’s banes; O Satan, when ye tak him, Gie him the schulin o’ your weans, For clever deils he’ll mak them! Boat song—Hey, Ca’ Thro’ Up wi’ the carls o’ Dysart, And the lads o’ Buckhaven, And the kimmers o’ Largo, And the lasses o’ Leven. Chorus.—Hey, ca’ thro’, ca’ thro’, For we hae muckle ado. Hey, ca’ thro’, ca’ thro’, For we hae muckle ado; We hae tales to tell, An’ we hae sangs to sing; We hae pennies tae spend, An’ we hae pints to bring. Hey, ca’ thro’, &c. We’ll live a’ our days, And them that comes behin’, Let them do the like, An’ spend the gear they win. Hey, ca’ thro’, &c.