Apparitions > Aloway Kirk, or, Tam o' Shanter, a tale

More pointed still we make ourselves,
Regret, Remorse, and Shame !
And man, whose heav’n-erected face^
The smiles of love adorn,
Man’s inhumanity to Man,
Makes countless thousands mourn.
.See yonder poor, o’erlahour’d weight,
So abject, mean, and vile,
Who begs a brother of the earth
To give him leave to toil;
And see his lordly Jellow-worm,
The poor Petition spurn,
Unmindful, tho’ a weeping wife.
And helpless offspring mourn.
If I’m design’d yon lordling’s slave,
By Nature’s law design’d,
Why was an independant wish
E’er planted in my mind ?
If not, why am I subject to
His cruelty, or scorn ?
Or why has man the will and pow'r
To make his fellow mourn ?
Yet, let not this too-much, my Son,
Disturb thy youthful breast:
This partial view of human-kind
Is surely not the last!
The poor, oppressed, honest man,
Mad never, sure, been born,