Ossian Collection > Gaelic bards

DUGALD BUCHANAN. 93
Or in tavern rout,
Didst thou revel and shout,
With the mirth which the dram-drinking bred 1
And never a thought
Of God's providence sought,
If the barm raised it not in thy head 1
No music was there.
But to curse and to swear,
As you tried whose fist was the best ;
Till, as senseless and coarse
As a cow or a horse.
You lay dizzy and spewed in your rest.
Or some great man and grand,
Do I hold in my hand —
Lord of acres, fertile and wide.
Who kindness would show
To the mean man and low,
And the poor from his plenty supplied Ì
Or didst thou, with hard mind,
Thy weak tenantry grind,
And thin their worn hair 'neath thy sway—
With thy law's cruel mock.
Distraining their stock,
Though their poverty moaned for delay *?
Letting them stand.
With bonnet in hand,
When they dared in thy presence appear :
And making so light
Of their locks thin and white.
And the wind that blew^ aches in their ear.