Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

370 . Song—Sic a Wife as Willie had

WILLIE WASTLE dwalt on Tweed,

The spot they ca’d it Linkumdoddie;

Willie was a wabster gude,

Could stown a clue wi’ ony body:

He had a wife was dour and din,

O Tinkler Maidgie was her mither;

Sic a wife as Willie had,

I wad na gie a button for her!

She has an e’e, 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 as Willie had,

I wadna gie a button for her!

She’s bow-hough’d, she’s hein-shin’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 lump upon her breast,

The twin o’ that upon her shouther;

Sic a wife as Willie had,

I wadna gie a button for her!

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 wadna gie a button for her!