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Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 323: Verses On Captain Grose
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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.

Verses On Captain Grose

Written on an Envelope, enclosing a Letter to Him.
Ken ye aught o’ Captain Grose?—Igo, and ago, If he’s amang his friends or foes?—Iram, coram, dago. Is he to Abra’m’s bosom gane?—Igo, and ago, Or haudin Sarah by the wame?—Iram, coram dago. Is he south or is he north?—Igo, and ago, Or drowned in the river Forth?—Iram, coram dago. Is he slain by Hielan’ bodies?—Igo, and ago, And eaten like a wether haggis?—Iram, coram, dago. Where’er he be, the Lord be near him!—Igo, and ago, As for the deil, he daur na steer him.—Iram, coram, dago. But please transmit th’ enclosed letter,—Igo, and ago, Which will oblige your humble debtor.—Iram, coram, dago. So may ye hae auld stanes in store,—Igo, and ago, The very stanes that Adam bore.—Iram, coram, dago, So may ye get in glad possession,—Igo, and ago, The coins o’ Satan’s coronation!—Iram coram dago.