Poem by Robert Burns

The Death and Dying Words of Poor Mailie, The Author’s Only Pet Yowe

As Mailie, an’ her lambs thegither,
Was ae day nibbling on the tether,
Upon her cloot she coost a hitch,
An’ owre she warsled in the ditch;
There, groaning, dying, she did lie,
When Hughoc he cam doytin by.
  Wi’ glowrin’ een, an’ lifted han’s,
Poor Hughoc like a statue stan’s;
He saw her days were near-hand ended,
But, wae’s my heart! he could na mend it!
He gaped wide, but naething spak;
At length poor Mailie silence brak :-

  ‘O thou, whase lamentable face
Appears to mourn my woefu’ case!
My dying words attentive hear,
An’ bear them to my Master dear.
  ‘Tell him, if e’er again he keep
As muckle gear as buy a sheep,-
O bid him never tie them mair
Wi’ wicked strings o’ hemp or hair!
But ca’ them out to park or hill,
An’ let them wander at their will;
So may his flock increase, an’ grow
To scores o’ lambs, an’ packs o’ woo’!
  ‘Tell him he was a Master kin’,
An’ aye was guid to me an’ mine;
An’ now my dying charge I gie him,
My helpless lambs, I trust them wi’ him.
  ‘O bid him save their harmless lives
Frae dogs, an’ tods, an’ butchers’ knives!
But gie them guid cow-milk their fill,
Tifi they be fit to fend themsel:
An’ tent them duly, e’en an’ morn,
Wi’ teats o’ hay an’ ripps o’ corn.
  ‘An’ may they never learn the gates
Of ither vile wanrestfu’ pets-
To slink thro’ slaps, an’ reave an’ steal,
At stacks o’ pease, or stocks o’ kail.
So may they, like their great forbears,
For mony a year come thro’ the shears;
So wives will gie them bits o’ bread,
An’ bairns greet for them when they’re dead.
  ‘My poor tup-lamb, my son an’ heir,
O bid him breed him up wi’ care!
An’, if he live to be a beast,
To pit some havins in his breast!
An’ warn him, what I winna name,
To stay content wi’ yowes at hame;
An’ no to rin an’ wear his cloots,
Like ither menseless graceless brutes.
  ‘An’ neist my yowie, silly thing,
Gude keep thee frae a tether string!
O may thou ne’er forgather up
Wi’ ony blastit moorland tup;
But ay keep mind to moop an’ mell,
Wi’ sheep o’ credit like thysel!
  ‘And now, my bairns, wi’ my last breath
I lea’e my blessin wi’ you baith;
An’ when you think upo’ your mither,
Mind to be kind to ane anither.
  ‘Now, honest Hughoc, dinna fail
To tell my master a’ my tale;
An’ bid him burn this cursed tether;
An’, for thy pains, thou’se get my blether.’

  This said, poor Millie turn’d her head,
An’ closed her een amang the dead!

1. I Gaed a Waefu' Gate Yestreen
2. Blythe Was She
3. Farewell to Ballochmyle
4. Stay My Charmer
5. On a Bank of Flowers

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