Poem by Isabel Pagan

The Crook and Plaid

Ilk lassie has a laddie she lo’es aboon the rest,
Ilk lassie has a laddie, if she likes to confess’t,
That is dear unto her bosom whatever be his trade ;
But my lover’s aye the laddie that wears the crook and plaid.

Ilk morn he climbs the mountains, his fleecy flocks to view,
And hears the lav’ rocks chanting, new sprung frae mang the dew:
His bonnie wee bit doggie, sae frolicsome and glad,
Runs aye before the laddie that wears the crook and plaid.

And when that he is wearied, and lies upon the grass,
What if that in his plaidie he hide a bonnie lass?
No doubt there’s a preference due to every trade,
But commend to me the laddie that wears the crook and plaid.

And when in summer weather he is upon the hill,
He reads in books of history that learns him meikle skill :
There’s nae sic joyous leisure to be had at ony trade,
Save that the laddie follows that wears the crook and plaid.

What though in storms o’ winter part o’ his flock should die,
My laddie aye is cheery, and why then should not I?
The prospect o’ the summer can surely mak’ us glad ;
Contented lives the laddie that wears the crook and plaid.

King David was a shepherd while in the prime o’ youth,
And following the fleecy flocks he pondered upon truth :
And when he came to be a king, and left his former trade,
’Twas an honour to the laddie that wears the crook and plaid.

1. Account of the Author’s Lifetime
2. Muirkirk Light Weights
3. The Putting Begins
4. Ca’ the Yowes to the Knowes
5. On Burns and Ramsay

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