elegy on the year 1788
for lords or kings i dinna mourn,
e'ehem die—for that they're born:
but oh! prodigious to reflec'!
a towmont, sirs, is gao wreck!
o eighty-eight, in thy sma' space,
what dire events hae taken pce!
of what enjoyments thou hast reft us!
in what a pickle thou has left us!
the spanish empire's tint a head,
and my auld teethless, bawtie's dead:
the tulyie's teugh 'tween pitt and fox,
and 'tween gie's twa wee cocks;
the tane is game, a bluidy devil,
but to the hen-birds unco civil;
Elegy On The Year 1788(1/3)