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I'm now arrived - thanks to the gods! Thro' pathways rough and muddy, A certain sign that makin roads Is no this people's study: Altho' I'm not wi' Scripture cram'd, I'm sure the Bible says That heedless sinners shall be damn'd, Unless they mend their ways.
This is an epigram by Robert Burns. It was written in 1786 and is read here by Phyllis Logan.
Alistair BraidwoodOne of Burns favoured styles of verse was the epigram, which he often inscribed on the windows of taverns with a diamond he possessed purely for this purpose. This one is dated from October 1786 by Scott Douglas who names the said roads as those between Kilmarnock and Stewarton.
However many think it more likely that this is from the later Highland Tour that Burns embarked on from Edinburgh with William Nicol and that the rough roads referred to are those the two had to negotiate as they travelled through the country.
However pot-holed and uneven our roads become in winter, things were worse in Burns's time when a bone-juddering journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow took days and country roads were hardly worthy of the name. Here is the poet as disgruntled road-user having fun with a pun.
Donny O'Rourke
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