Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

To a Louse, on seeing one on a Lady's Bonnet at Church

Robert Burns

“To a Louse, on seeing one on a Lady's Bonnet at Church” as printed in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887).

Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics Text 471 1887 · historical text
Public domainScottish songSong lyrics
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Poetical Works of Robert Burns, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Ha! whare ye gaun, ye crawlin ferlie!

Your impudence protects you sairly:

I canna say but ye strunt rarely,

Owre gauze and lace;

Tho' faith, I fear ye dine but sparely

On sic a place.

Verse 2

Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,

Detested, shunn'd by saunt an' sinner,

How dare ye set your fit upon her,

Sae fine a lady!

Gae somewhere else, and seek your dinner

On some poor body.

Verse 3

Swith, in some beggar's haffet squattle;

There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle

Wi' ither kindred, jumping cattle,

In shoals and nations;

Whare horn nor bane ne'er dare unsettle

Your thick plantations.

Verse 4

Now haud ye there, ye're out o' sight,

Below the fatt'rels, snug an' tight;

Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right

Till ye've got on it,

The vera tapmost, tow'ring height

O' Miss's bonnet.

Verse 5

My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,

As plump and gray as onie grozet;

O for some rank, mercurial rozet,

Or fell, red smeddum,

I'd gie you sic a hearty doze o't,

Wad dress your droddum!

Verse 6

I wad na been surpris'd to spy

You on an auld wife's flannen toy;

Or aiblins some bit duddie boy,

On's wyliecoat;

But Miss's fine Lunardi! fie,

How daur ye do't?

Verse 7

O, Jenny, dinna toss your head,

An' set your beauties a' abread!

Ye little ken what cursed speed

The blastie's makin!

Thae winks and finger-ends, I dread,

Are notice takin!

Verse 8

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us

To see oursels as others see us!

It wad frae monie a blunder free us

And foolish notion:

What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,

And ev'n Devotion!

Credits

Written by Robert Burns

Words by Robert Burns. Historical text published in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887), “To a Louse, on seeing one on a Lady's Bonnet at Church”

Every text in this 1887 collected edition is by Robert Burns (1759-1796), who died more than 230 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination and a pre-1931 United States publication.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

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Retrieved 2026-10-25. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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