Poem by Robert Burns

Willie's Wife

WILLIE WASTLE dwalt on Tweed,
  The spot they ca’d it Linkumdoddie;
Willie was a wabster guid,
  Cou’d stown a clue wi’ ony body.
He had a wife was dour and din,
  O Tinkler Madgie was her mither;
Sic a wife as Willie had,
  I wad na gie a button for her!

She has an ee, 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, &c.

She’s bow-hough’d, she’s hein shinn’d,
  Ae limpin leg a hand-breed shorter;
She’s twisted right, she’s twisted left,
  To balance fair in ilka quarter:
She has a hump upon her breast,
  The twin o’ that upon her shouther;
Sic a wife, &c.

Auld baudrons 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!

1. The Flowery Banks of Cree
2. Farewell, Thou Stream
3. The Day Returns
4. As Down the Burn They Took Their Way
5. Theniel Menzies’ Bonnie Mary

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