Thou ance was i’ the foremost rank, A filly buirdly, steeve, an’ swank, An’ set weel down a shapely shank, As e’er tread yird; An’ could hae flown out-owre a stank, Like ony bird. It’s now some nine-an’-twenty year, Sin’ thou was my guid-father’s meere; He gied me thee, o’ tocher clear, An’ fifty mark; Tho’ it was sma’, ’twas weel-won gear, An’ thou was stark. When first I gaed to woo my Jenny, Ye then was trottin’ wi’ your minnie: Tho’ ye was trickie, slee, an’ funnie, Ye ne’er was donsie; But hamely, tawie, quiet, an’ cannie, An’ unco sonsie. That day ye pranc’d wi’ muckle pride When ye bure hame my bonnie bride; An’ sweet an’ gracefu’ she did ride, Wi’ maiden air! Kyle-Stewart I could braggèd wide For sic a pair. Tho’ now ye dow but hoyte and hobble, An’ wintle like a saumont-coble, That day ye was a jinker noble For heels an’ win’! An’ ran them till they a’ did wobble Far, far behin’. When thou an’ I were young and skeigh, An’ stable-meals at fairs were dreigh, How thou wad prance, an’ snore, an’ skreigh An’ tak the road! Town’s-bodies ran, and stood abeigh, An’ ca’t thee mad. When thou was corn’t, an’ I was mellow, We took the road aye like a swallow: At brooses thou had ne’er a fellow For pith an’ speed; But ev’ry tail thou pay’t them hollow, Where’er thou gaed. The sma’, droop-rumpled, hunter cattle, Might aiblins waur’d thee for a brattle; But sax Scotch miles, thou tried their mettle, An’ gart them whaizle: Nae whip nor spur, but just a wattle O’ saugh or hazel. Thou was a noble fittie-lan’, As e’er in tug or tow was drawn! Aft thee an’ I, in aucht hours’ gaun, On guid March-weather, Hae turn’d sax rood beside our han’, For days thegither. Thou never braindg’t, an’ fetch’t, an’ fliskit, But thy auld tail thou wad hae whiskit, An’ spread abreed thy weel-fill’d brisket, Wi’ pith an’ pow’r, Till spritty knowes wad rair’t and riskit, An’ slypet owre. When frosts lay lang, an’ snaws were deep, An’ threaten’d labour back to keep, I gied thy cog a wee bit heap Aboon the timmer; I kenn’d my Maggie wad na sleep For that, or simmer.