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!