Page:The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Vailima Edition, Volume 8, 1922.djvu/562

NEW POEMS Seen 's daidle thus an' shilly-shally

For near a minute—

Sae cauld the wind blew up the valley,

The deil was in it!—

Syne spread the silk an' tak the gate,

In blast an' blaudin', rain, deil hae 't!

The hale toon glintin', stane an' slate,

Wi' cauld an' weet,

An' to the Court, gin we 'se be late,

Bicker oor feet.

And at the Court, tae, aft I saw

Whaur Advocates by twa an' twa

Gang gesterin' end to end the ha'

In weeg an' goon,

To crack o' what ye wull but Law

The hale forenoon.

That muckle ha', maist like a kirk,

I've kent at braid mid-day sae mirk

Ye'd seen white weegs an' faces lurk

Like ghaists frae Hell,

But whether Christian ghaists or Turk,

Deil ane could tell.

The three fires lunted in the gloom,

The wind blew like the blast o' doom,

The rain upo' the roof abune

Played Peter Dick—

Ye wad nae'd licht enough i' the room

Your teeth to pick!

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