Of a' the ills that flesh can fear, The loss o' frien's, the lack o' gear, A yowlin' tyke, a glandered mear, A lassie's nonsense -- There's just ae thing I cannae bear, An' that's my conscience. Whan day (an' a' excuse) has gane, An' wark is dune, and duty's plain, An' to my chalmer a' my lane I creep apairt, My conscience! hoo the yammerin' pain Stends to my heart! A' day wi' various ends in view The hairsts o' time I had to pu', An' made a hash wad staw a soo, Let me be a man! -- My conscience! whan my han's were fu', Whaur were ye than? An' there were a' the lures o' life, There pleesure skirlin' on the fife, There anger, wi' the hotchin' knife Ground shairp in Hell -- My conscience! -- you that's like a wife! -- Whaur was yoursel'? I ken it fine: just waitin' here, To gar the evil waur appear, To clart the guid, confuse the clear, Mis-ca' the great, My conscience! an' to raise a steer Whan a's ower late. Sic-like, some tyke grawn auld and blind, Whan thieves brok' through the gear to p'ind, Has lain his dozened length an' grinned At the disaster; An' the morn's mornin', wud's the wind, Yokes on his master. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THE PLIOCENE SKULL by FRANCIS BRET HARTE CHRISTMAS BELLS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW ODE ON THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER by JORGE MANRIQUE SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: FIDDLER JONES by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE GREEK AT CONSTANTINOPLE by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES FOR THOSE AT SEA; HYMN by WILLIAM WHITING BLOUDIE JACKE OF SHREWSBERRIE; THE SHROPSHIRE BLUEBEARD by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY: OF READING by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY |