Cam' ye e'er by our toun?
Danced ye e'er upon its green?
The smeeky hames o' our toun
Sae blithesome ha'e ye ever seen?
There's rantin' chields in our toun —
The wabster, smith, an' monie mae;
But 'mang the lads o' our toun
The foremost is the Dominie!

'Bout a' auld-farrant things he kens —
The Greeks an' bluidy Romans too;
An' ithers wi' auld warld names
That sairly crook a body's mou'.
He kens the places far awa'
Where black folks dwall ayont the sea;
An' how an' why the starnies shine
Is weel kent to the Dominie!

Wi' meilke words an' wisdom nods
The fleggit fearfu' bairns he rules;
An' he can tell the Hebrew names
O' aumries an' three-leggit stools!
A dead man's skull wi' grinnin teeth
Frae out the auld kirkyard has he:
For droll an' gey an' fearsome things
There's nane can match the Dominie.

O' beuks a warld he has read,
An' wi' his tougue can fight like mad,
Till ither folk he sometimes mak's
That they will neither bind nor haud:
And if they're dour and winna ding,
Their settlin' soon he does them gi'e
Wi' words o' queer lang-nebbit speech —
Sae learned is the Dominie!

There's yon auld soger, wha has been
Where oranges like brambles hing, —
There's ne'er a ane the clachan o'er
Can crack like him 'bout ony thing:
They say that wi' the deil he deals! —
It mae be sae; but even he
Maun steek his gab when clinkin' ben
At e'enin' comes the Dominie!

An' sic a face he does put on
On Sabbath when he sings the psalm!
The auld wives of the parochin
Are thinkin' him a gospel lamb.
At weddin's when the lave are blithe,
Wi' auld folk doucely sitteth he
Till Minister an' Elders gang; —
But syne — up bangs the Dominie!

Frae cheek to chin — frae lug to lug —
The lasses round he kisses a',
An' loups an' dances, cracks his thoums,
Nor hamewith steers till mornin' daw;
An' whiles at e'en to our door cheek
He comes, an' sleelie winks on me, —
Yestreen, ayont the kalyard dyke,
I 'greed to wed the Dominie!