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To a Louse [On Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church]
Robert Burns | circa 1786 | Robert Burns

Posted on 01/25/2010 8:01:38 AM PST by Clive

Ha! whare ye gaun' ye crowlin ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly;
I canna say but ye strunt rarely
Owre gauze and lace,
Tho faith! I fear ye dine but sparely
On sic a place.

Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunn'd by saunt an sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her--
Sae fine a lady!
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner
On some poor body.

Swith! in some beggar's hauffet squattle;
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle;
Wi' ither kindred, jumping cattle;
In shoals and nations;
Whare horn nor bane ne'er daur unsettle
Your thick plantations.

Now haud you there! ye're out o' sight,
Below the fatt'rils, snug an tight,
Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right,
Till ye've got on it--
The vera tapmost, tow'rin height
O' Miss's bonnet.

My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,
As plump an grey as onie grozet:
O for some rank, mercurial rozet,
Or fell, red smeddum, I'd gie you sic a hearty dose o't,
Wad dress your droddum!

I wad na been surpris'd to spy
You on an auld wife's flainen toy
Or aiblins some bit duddie boy,
On's wyliecoat;
But Miss's fine Lunardi! fye!
How daur ye do't?

O Jeany, dinna toss your head,
An set your beauties a' abread!
Ye little ken what cursed speed
The blastie's makin!
Thae winks an finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin!

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an gait wad lea'es us,
An ev'n devotion!


TOPICS: Poetry
KEYWORDS: pointlesscrap
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1 posted on 01/25/2010 8:01:39 AM PST by Clive
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To: Clive

How come this ain’t in Breaking News...?


2 posted on 01/25/2010 8:03:46 AM PST by freebilly (No wonder the left has a boner for Obama. There's CIALIS in soCIALISt....)
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To: Clive

Robbie Burns were e’re a rake, aye.


3 posted on 01/25/2010 8:05:30 AM PST by humblegunner
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To: Clive
Here's the perp....

4 posted on 01/25/2010 8:09:20 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Clive

Reminds me of something I saw in church a few years ago.

A man sitting in front of me had a new shirt. The garage sale sticker was still taped to the collar. 25 cents.


5 posted on 01/25/2010 8:10:32 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Are my guns loaded? Break in and find out.)
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To: Clive

Was that Rap / HipHop?


6 posted on 01/25/2010 8:13:28 AM PST by Lazamataz (Hey Obama, Can You Hear Me Now....? GOOOOoood......)
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To: Clive

Was Burns talking bout our President Zero in the last stanza?


7 posted on 01/25/2010 8:14:19 AM PST by stan_sipple
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To: Clive

Now whay did you have to go and do that? Now I am going to itch all day.

Just like when they run an article on bed bugs.


8 posted on 01/25/2010 8:20:08 AM PST by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: Clive
"

"I'm so glad you've opened 'Poetry Corner' for people like me on this forum."

9 posted on 01/25/2010 8:20:37 AM PST by capt. norm (Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.)
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To: Clive

-— and don’t call me Sairly!


10 posted on 01/25/2010 8:26:45 AM PST by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast (STOP the Tyrananny State.)
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To: Clive

Happy birthday Robbie.........


11 posted on 01/25/2010 8:52:55 AM PST by JoeDetweiler
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To: capt. norm

That’s odd, I was just wondering what became of Percy Dove-Tonsils.


12 posted on 01/25/2010 9:16:32 AM PST by norton
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To: Clive

That lady has cooties!


13 posted on 01/25/2010 9:22:53 AM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: capt. norm

Ernie Kovacs was a comic genius.


14 posted on 01/25/2010 9:29:31 AM PST by MHGinTN (Obots, believing they cannot be deceived, it is impossible to convince them when they are deceived.)
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To: MHGinTN
Ernie Kovacs was a comic genius.

Fortunately Youtube has a bunch of his old bits. My favorite is when he used a slanted camera to make it look like gravity was working sideways...poured milk etc at a lunch table, etc. Here's one of his Youtube goodies:

Kovacs Chef on Youtube

15 posted on 01/25/2010 9:48:31 AM PST by capt. norm (Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.)
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To: capt. norm

Percy Dovetonsils, right?


16 posted on 01/25/2010 9:51:45 AM PST by Judith Anne (Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.)
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To: Judith Anne
Percy Dovetonsils, right?

Yeah.

See reply number 15. Has a link to some classic Ernie Kovacs (Percy originator) on Youtube.

17 posted on 01/25/2010 10:02:41 AM PST by capt. norm (Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.)
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To: capt. norm

Dear departed spouse used to love Ernie Kovacs. I think we saw him on a television show in the 70s, and I have never forgotten those glasses.


18 posted on 01/25/2010 10:15:14 AM PST by Judith Anne (Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.)
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To: Judith Anne

betchya that goofy Nairobi Trio beat is your head as an earworm after you read this....


19 posted on 01/25/2010 10:17:49 AM PST by Hegewisch Dupa
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To: Hegewisch Dupa
Oh, THANKS!

I was FINE till you posted that. ;-D

20 posted on 01/25/2010 10:24:45 AM PST by Judith Anne (Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.)
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