A GODLY BALLANT. THE rich man sat in his father's seat -- Purple an' linen, and a' thing fine! The puir man lay at his gate i' the street -- Sairs an' tatters, an' weary pine! To the rich man's table ilk dainty comes; Mony a morsel gaed frae't, or fell; The puir man fain wad hae dined on the crumbs, But whether he got them I canna tell. Servants quate, saft-fittit, an' stoot, Stan' by the rich man's curtain'd doors; Maisterless dogs that rin about, Cam to the puir man an' lickit his sores. The rich man dee'd, an' they buried him gran'; In linen fine his body they wrap; But the angels tuik up the beggar man, An' laid him doon in Abraham's lap. The guid upo' this side, the ill upo' that -- Sic was the rich man's waesome fa'; But his brithers they eat, an' they drink, an' they chat, An' carena a straw for their father's ha'. The trowth's the trowth, think what ye will; An' some they kenna what they wad be at; But the beggar man thocht he did no that ill, Wi' the dogs i' this side, the angels o' that. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ELEGY BEFORE DEATH by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY PAX BRITANNICA by ALFRED AUSTIN COWBOY'S COMPLAINT by SQUIRE OMAR BARKER MALEFACTORS by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN ABER STATIONS: STATIO PRIMA by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 3. AFTER CIVILISATION (2) by EDWARD CARPENTER |