Poetry Archives

Bobbie Burns and Bobbie Browning,
They’re the boys I’d like to see.
Though I’m not the boy for Bobbie,
Bobbie is the boy for me!

Bobbie Browning was the good boy;
Turned the language inside out,
Wrote his plays and had his days,
Died—and held his peace, no doubt.

Poor North Bobbie was the bad boy,—
Bad, bad, bad, bad Bobbie Burns!
Loved and made the world his lover,
Kissed and barleycomed by turns.

London’s dweller, child of wisdom,
Kept his counsel, took his toll;
Ayrshire’s vagrant paid the piper,
Lost the game—God save his soul!

Bobbie Burns and Bobbie Browning,
What’s the difference, you see?
Bob the lover, Bob the lawyer;
Bobbie is the boy for me!