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Before him Doon pours all his floods:The doubling storm roars thro' the woods;The lightnings flash from pole to pole;Near and more near the thunders roll:When, glimmering thro' the groaning trees,Kirk Alloway seem'd in a bleeze;Thro' ilka bore the beams were glancing;And loud resounded mirth and dancing.—
Inspiring bold John Barleycorn!What dangers thou canst make us scorn!Wi' tipenny, we fear nae evil;Wi' usquebah we'll face the devil!—The swats sae ream'd in Tammie's noddle,Fair play, he car'd na deils a boddle.But Maggie stood right sair astonish'd,Till, by the heel and hand admonish'd,She ventur'd forward on the light:And, vow! Tam saw an unco sight!Warlocks and witches in a dance;Nae cotillon brent new frae France,But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels,Put life and mettle in their heels.A winnock-bunker in the east,There sat auld Nick, in shape o' beast;A towzie tyke, black, grim, and large,To gie them music was his charge;He skrew'd the pipes, and gart them skirl,Till roof and rafters a' did dirl.—Coffins stood round, like open presses,That shaw'd the dead in their last dresses;And by some devilish cantrip flight,Each in its cauld hand held a light.—By which, heroic Tam was ableTo note upon the haly table,A murderer's banes in gibbet airns;Twa span-lang, wee, unchristen'd bairns;A thief, new cutted frae a rape,Wi' his last gasp his gab did gape;Five tomahawks, wi' blude red-rusted;Five scymiters, wi' murder crusted;
