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Adam Armour's Prayer


Gude pity me, because I'm little! 
For though I am an elf o' mettle, 
An' can, like ony wabster's shuttle, 
Jink there or here, 
Yet, scarce as lang's a gude kail-whittle , 
I'm unco queer. 

An' now Thou kens our waefu' case; 
For Geordie's jurr we're in disgrace, 
Because we stang'd her through the place, 
An' hurt her spleuchan ; 
For whilk we daurna show our face 
Within the clachan . 

An' now we're dern'd in dens and hollows, 
And hunted, as was William Wallace, 
Wi' constables -- thae blackguard fallows , 
An' sodgers baith ; 
But Gude preserve us frae the gallows, 
That shamefu' death! 

Auld grim black-bearded Geordie's sel' -- 
O shake him owre the mouth o' hell! 
There let him hing , an' roar, an' yell 
Wi' hideous din , 
And if he offers to rebel, 
Then heave him in. 

When Death comes in wi' glimmerin blink , 
An' tips auld drucken Nanse the wink, 
May Sautan gie her doup a clink 
Within his yett , 
An' fill her up wi' brimstone drink, 
Red-reekin het . 

Though Jock an' hav'rel Jean are merry -- 
Some devil seize them in a hurry, 
An' waft them in th' infernal wherry 
Straught through the lake, 
An' gie their hides a noble curry 
Wi' oil of aik ! 

As for the jurr-puir worthless body ! 
She's got mischief enough already; 
Wi' stanged hips, and buttocks bluidy 
She's suffer'd sair ; 
But , may she wintle in a woody, 
If she wh-e mair ! 

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