EpistleToJohnRankine

epistletojohnrankine

enclosingsomepoems

orough,rude,ready-wittedrankine,

thewaleo'cocksforfunan'drinkin!

there'smonygodlyfolksarethinkin,

yourdreamsandtricks

willsendyou,korah-like,a-sinkin

straughttoauldnick's.

yehaesawmonycracksan'cants,

andinyourwicked,druckenrants,

yemakadevilo'thesaunts,

an'fillthemfou;

andthentheirfailings,flaws,an'wants,

area'seenthro'.

hypocrisy,inmercyspareit!

thatholyrobe,odinnatearit!

spare'tfortheirsakes,whaaftenwearit—

theladsinblack;

butyourcurstwit,whenitcomesnearit,

rives'tafftheirback.

think,wickedsinner,whaye'reskaithing:

it'sjusttheblue-gownbadgean'claithing

o'saunts;takthat,yelea'ethemnaething

tokenthemby

fraeonyunregenerateheathen,

likeyouori.

i'vesentyouheresomerhymingware,

a'thatibargain'dfor,an'mair;

sae,whenyehaeanhourtospare,

iwillexpect,

yonsangye'llsen't,wi'canniecare,

andnoneglect.

tho'faith,sma'hearthaeitosing!

mymusedowscarcelyspreadherwing;

i'veplay'dmyselaboniespring,

an'danc'dmyfill!

i'dbettergaenan'sair'ttheking,

atbunkjer'shill.

'twasaenightlately,inmyfun,

igaedarovin'wi'thegun,

an'broughtapaitricktothegrun'—

aboniehen;

and,asthetwilightwasbegun,

thoughtnanewadken.

thepoor,weethingwaslittlehurt;

istraikititaweeforsport,

ne'erthinkintheywadfashmefor't;

but,deil-ma-care!

somebodytellsthepoacher-court

thehaleaffair.