"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 aâÂÂ,
He aften did assist ye;
For had ye staid hale weeks awa,
Your wives they neâÂÂer had missâÂÂd ye.
Ye Mauchline bairns, as on ye press,
To school in bands thegither,
O tread ye lightly on his grass,âÂÂ
Perhaps he was your father!
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