Quiet an’ cozie, but an’ ben,
Sittin’ at my ain fire-en’,
On the twa-leav’d volume porin’,
News baith hame an’ foreign storin’,
Owre them thinkin’, wonnerin’, grievin’,
Hech, sirs! what a warl’ we leeve in!
There’s that restless ghaist Reform,
Like a chronic thunner-storm
Roun’ the sky politic rummlin’,
Gloomin’, flashin’, ever grummlin’—
Ever mair the auld, auld story,
Nocht worth while frae Whig or Tory.
Shaftesbury! thee oor hearts are thankin’
Noo, whan slavery’s chains are clankin’,
No on niggers in the south,
But on gangs o’ English youth—
Serfs wha suffer, sin, an’ toil,
On free Englan’s happy soil;
In their cause, thou lead’st the van,
Christian! true, brave Englishman!
Oh! the horrors, crimes, an’ pain,
That our social system stain!
Drink’s amaist the source o’ a’
The countless ills that life befa’;
Murders, suicides, an’ death,
To the saul an’ body baith;
Frae this burnin’ scourge we shrink,
Britain’s shame, accurs
(Janet Hamilton)
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Based on Topics: Death & Dying Poems, Christianity Poems, Pain Poems, Sin Poems, Courage Poems, Crime Poems, Media & News PoemsBased on Keywords: chronic, ghaist, youth-, suicides, hech, leeve, cozie, grievin, amaist, flashin, thankin