Epitaph for James Smith

"Epitaph for James Smith" is a satirical Scots epitaph written by poet Robert Burns in 1785, and was included in his first publication, the Kilmarnock volume:


 * LAMENT him, Mauchline husbands a’,
 * He aften did assist ye;
 * For had ye staid hale weeks awa,
 * Your wives they ne’er had miss’d ye.


 * Ye Mauchline bairns, as on ye press,
 * To school in bands thegither,
 * O tread ye lightly on his grass,—
 * Perhaps he was your father!