• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Poetry Catalog

We honor great poets. We honor great poetry.

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Submit Your Work
  • Writers
  • Advertising / Subscription

Adam Armour’s Prayer, By: Robert Burns

October 19, 2026 by Editors

pc

Gude pity me, because I’m little!
For though I am an elf o’ mettle,
An’ can, like ony wabster’s shuttle,
Jink there or here,
Yet, scarce as lang’s a gude kail-whittle,
I’m unco queer.

An’ now Thou kens our waefu’ case;
For Geordie’s jurr we’re in disgrace,
Because we stang’d her through the place,
An’ hurt her spleuchan;
For whilk we daurna show our face
Within the clachan.

An’ now we’re dern’d in dens and hollows,
And hunted, as was William Wallace,
Wi’ constables-thae blackguard fallows,
An’ sodgers baith;
But Gude preserve us frae the gallows,
That shamefu’ death!

Auld grim black-bearded Geordie’s sel’—
O shake him owre the mouth o’ hell!
There let him hing, an’ roar, an’ yell
Wi’ hideous din,
And if he offers to rebel,
Then heave him in.

When Death comes in wi’ glimmerin blink,
An’ tips auld drucken Nanse the wink,
May Sautan gie her doup a clink
Within his yett,
An’ fill her up wi’ brimstone drink,
Red-reekin het.

Though Jock an’ hav’rel Jean are merry—
Some devil seize them in a hurry,
An’ waft them in th’ infernal wherry
Straught through the lake,
An’ gie their hides a noble curry
Wi’ oil of aik!

As for the jurr-puir worthless body!
She’s got mischief enough already;
Wi’ stanged hips, and buttocks bluidy
She’s suffer’d sair;
But, may she wintle in a woody,
If she wh-e mair!

Read all of Robert Burns's poems · About Robert Burns

More by Robert Burns

  • For A' That (The Jolly Beggars Song)
  • Merry Hae I Been Teethin a Heckle
  • The Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer
  • The Ordination
  • Epistle to James Smith

Write poetry? Submit your poem to Poetry Catalog

Share this:

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Related

Filed Under: Poems

Get Every Post In Your Inbox 😳

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
(This is not the newsletter.)

Primary Sidebar

Never Miss A Poem (Newsletter)

Be Social

  • X
  • Facebook

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry Submission Deadlines November 2026
    Poetry Submission Deadlines November 2026
  • On The Power Of Sound, By: William Wordsworth
    On The Power Of Sound, By: William Wordsworth
  • Ghosts, By: Emily Dickinson
    Ghosts, By: Emily Dickinson
  • To The Moon - Composed By The Seaside, On The Coast Of Cumberland, By: William Wordsworth
    To The Moon - Composed By The Seaside, On The Coast Of Cumberland, By: William Wordsworth
  • Rest And Be Thankful! - At The Head Of Glencroe, By: William Wordsworth
    Rest And Be Thankful! - At The Head Of Glencroe, By: William Wordsworth
  • I Had No Time To Hate, Because, By: Emily Dickinson
    I Had No Time To Hate, Because, By: Emily Dickinson
  • What Is O Captain! My Captain! About?
    What Is O Captain! My Captain! About?
  • Devotional Incitements, By: William Wordsworth
    Devotional Incitements, By: William Wordsworth
  • To Hope, By: John Keats
    To Hope, By: John Keats
  • Chatsworth! Thy Stately Mansion, And The Pride, By: William Wordsworth
    Chatsworth! Thy Stately Mansion, And The Pride, By: William Wordsworth

Advertising/Subscribing = Loving

Buy Me A Coffee

Footer

Made with ❤ in Lubbock, TX.

Public Domain Poetry

Poetry Catalog Sponsors

Haiku Examples

Search

Copyright © 2026 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in