Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, UNDERWOODS: BOOK 2: 6. THE SPAEWIFE, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON


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UNDERWOODS: BOOK 2: 6. THE SPAEWIFE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, I wad like to ken - to the beggar-wife says I
Last Line: -- it's gey an' easy speirin', says the beggar-wife to me.
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour
Subject(s): Fortune Tellers; Palmistry


Oh, I wad like to ken -- to the beggar-wife says I --
Why chops are guid to brander and nane sae guid to fry.
An' siller, that's sae braw to keep, is brawer still to gie.
-- It's gey an' easy speirin', says the beggar-wife to me.

O, I wad like to ken -- to the beggar-wife says I --
Hoo a' things come to be whaur we find them when we try,
The lasses in their claes an' the fishes in the sea.
-- It's gey an' easy speirin', says the beggar-wife to me.

O, I wad like to ken -- to the beggar-wife says I --
Why lads are a' to sell an' lasses a' to buy;
An' naebody for dacency but barely twa or three
-- It's gey an' easy speirin', says the beggar-wife to me.

O, I wad like to ken -- to the beggar-wife says I --
Gin death as shre to men as killin' is to kye,
Why God has filled the yearth sae fu' o' tasty things to pree.
-- It's gey an' easy speirin', says the beggar-wife to me.

O, I wad like to ken -- to the beggar-wife says I --
The reason o' the cause an' the wherefore o' the why,
Wi' mony anither riddle brings the tear into my e'e.
-- It's gey an' easy speirin', says the beggar-wife to me.





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