Epitaph for James Smith

"Epitaph for James Smith" is a satirical Scots epitaph written by poet Robert Burns in 1785, and was included in his first publication, the Kilmarnock volume:

LAMENT him, Mauchline husbands a’,

He aften did assist ye;

For had ye staid hale weeks awa,

Your wives they ne’er had miss’d ye.

Ye Mauchline bairns, as on ye press,

To school in bands thegither,

O tread ye lightly on his grass,—

Perhaps he was your father!

See also

• Epistle to James Smith
• The Scottish town of Mauchline