You're born in Ayrshire
you're father is a poor tenant farmer
you learn to read and work the farm
you begin to write poetry and romance
the ladies - Highland Mary and the rest
Soon enough, you start to offend the local Kirk
with your randy ways and your satirical poem
Holy Willie's Prayer
It's hypocrisy and injustice you hate the most
Life is hard, your father dies
you're on your own and struggling
you think of emigrating to Jamaica
but then your book, 'Poems, Chiefly
in the Scottish Dialect' becomes
a big sucesss. Your brother Gilbert says
Don't let it go to your head!
You're courted by the Edinburgh literary set
Ploughman poet, they call you
ploughing the fields and the bonnie lassies
your humour and compassion win you many friends
the young Sir Walter Scott thinks you highly shrewd
and the best of men
You resurrect the auld Scots songs
and play the fiddle in your wee cottage
jigs and reels and strathspeys
you're proud of your musical heritage
Robert, I used to hear you playing
as I walked passed your hoose
Rab, we aye had a drink the gither!
You relocate to Dumfries
and become an Exciseman man
it's here you'll meet your end
rheumatic heart and sheer exhaustion
though your wife is pregnant again
Robert, you wrote poems sang songs
encountered the stark supernatural
witches and bogeymen
in your long johns, Autumn's trousers
From the author of Jupiter Remembered and Until It’s Time: Embracing Life In Our Later Years comes Petals of Love: Poetry of a Woman’s Soul – a heartfelt collection spanning more than thirty-five years. Through tender reflections, these poems offer g
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