The poem
THE BAIRNS gat out wi’ an unco shout, The deuks dang o’er my daddie, O! The fien-ma-care, quo’ the feirrie auld wife, He was but a paidlin’ body, O! He paidles out, and he paidles in, An’ he paidles late and early, O! This seven lang years I hae lien by his side, An’ he is but a fusionless carlie, O.
O haud your tongue, my feirrie auld wife, O haud your tongue, now Nansie, O: I’ve seen the day, and sae hae ye, Ye wad na ben sae donsie, O. I’ve seen the day ye butter’d my brose, And cuddl’d me late and early, O; But downa-do’s come o’er me now, And oh, I find it sairly, O!