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Famous Billie Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Billie poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous billie poems. These examples illustrate what a famous billie poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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by Burns, Robert
...YE wha live by sowps o’ drink,
A’ ye wha live by crambo-clink,
A’ ye wha live and never think,
 Come, mourn wi’ me!
Our billie ’s gien us a’ a jink,
 An’ owre the sea!


Lament him a’ ye rantin core,
Wha dearly like a random splore;
Nae mair he’ll join the merry roar;
 In social key;
For now he’s taen anither shore.
 An’ owre the sea!


The bonie lasses weel may wiss him,
And in their dear petitions place him:
The widows, wives, an’ a’ may bless him
 Wi’ tearfu’ e’e;
For ...Read more of this...



by Burns, Robert
...


PER CONTRAGo, Fame, an’ canter like a filly
Thro’ a’ the streets an’ neuks o’ Killie; 3
Tell ev’ry social honest billie
 To cease his grievin’;
For, yet unskaithed by Death’s gleg gullie.
 Tam Samson’s leevin’!


 Note 1. A certain preacher, a great favourite with the million. Vide “The Ordination.” stanza ii.—R. B. [back]
Note 2. Another preacher, an equal favourite with the few, who was at that time ailing. For him see also “The Or...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...HAIL, thairm-inspirin’, rattlin’ Willie!
Tho’ fortune’s road be rough an’ hilly
To every fiddling, rhyming billie,
 We never heed,
But take it like the unback’d filly,
 Proud o’ her speed.


When, idly goavin’, whiles we saunter,
Yirr! fancy barks, awa we canter,
Up hill, down brae, till some mischanter,
 Some black bog-hole,
Arrests us; then the scathe an’ banter
 We’re forced to thole.


Hale be your heart! hale be your fiddle!
Lang may your elbuck jink...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...y far and near,
God bless them a’ wi’ grace and gear!


 My auld schoolfellow, Preacher Willie,
The manly tar, my mason-billie,
And Auchenbay, I wish him joy,
If he’s a parent, lass or boy,
May he be dad, and Meg the mither,
Just five-and-forty years thegither!
And no forgetting wabster Charlie,
I’m tauld he offers very fairly.
An’ Lord, remember singing Sannock,
Wi’ hale breeks, saxpence, an’ a bannock!
And next, my auld acquaintance, Nancy,
Since she is fitted to her fa...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...For Matthew was a true man.


If thou hast wit, and fun, and fire,
 And ne’er guid wine did fear, man;
This was thy billie, dam, and sire,
 For Matthew was a ***** man.


If ony whiggish, whingin’ sot,
 To blame poor Matthew dare, man;
May dool and sorrow be his lot,
 For Matthew was a rare man.


But now, his radiant course is run,
 For Matthew’s was a bright one!
His soul was like the glorious sun,
 A matchless, Heavenly light, man....Read more of this...



by Burns, Robert
...a’ was done;
Sae in the tower o’ Cardoness
 A howlet sits at noon.


And there led I the Bushby clan,
 My gamesome billie, Will,
And my son Maitland, wise as brave,
 My footsteps follow’d still.


The Douglas and the Heron’s name,
 We set nought to their score;
The Douglas and the Heron’s name,
 Had felt our weight before.


But Douglasses o’ weight had we,
 The pair o’ lusty lairds,
For building cot-houses sae fam’d,
 And christenin’ kail-yards.


And there ...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...howe,—“My name is Death,
But be na fley’d.”—Quoth I, “Guid faith,
Ye’re maybe come to stap my breath;
 But tent me, billie;
I red ye weel, tak care o’ skaith
 See, there’s a gully!”


“Gudeman,” quo’ he, “put up your whittle,
I’m no designed to try its mettle;
But if I did, I wad be kittle
 To be mislear’d;
I wad na mind it, no that spittle
 Out-owre my beard.”


“Weel, weel!” says I, “a bargain be’t;
Come, gie’s your hand, an’ sae we’re gree’t;
We’ll ease our shanks ...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...
Wi’ gratefu’ heart I thank you brawlie;
Tho’ I maun say’t, I wad be silly,
 And unco vain,
Should I believe, my coaxin billie
 Your flatterin strain.


But I’se believe ye kindly meant it:
I sud be laith to think ye hinted
Ironic satire, sidelins sklented
 On my poor Musie;
Tho’ in sic phraisin terms ye’ve penn’d it,
 I scarce excuse ye.


My senses wad be in a creel,
Should I but dare a hope to speel
Wi’ Allan, or wi’ Gilbertfield,
 The braes o’ fame;
Or Fergusson, ...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...him,
An’ stroan’t on stanes an’ hillocks wi’ him.
 The tither was a ploughman’s collie—
A rhyming, ranting, raving billie,
Wha for his friend an’ comrade had him,
And in freak had Luath ca’d him,
After some dog in Highland Sang, 2
Was made lang syne,—Lord knows how lang.
 He was a gash an’ faithfu’ tyke,
As ever lap a sheugh or dyke.
His honest, sonsie, baws’nt face
Aye gat him friends in ilka place;
His breast was white, his touzie back
Weel clad wi’ coat o’ glo...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...ron,
 The Laird o’ Graham; 5
An’ ane, a chap that’s damn’d aulfarran’,
 Dundas his name: 6


Erskine, a spunkie Norland billie; 7
True Campbells, Frederick and Ilay; 8
An’ Livistone, the bauld Sir Willie; 9
 An’ mony ithers,
Whom auld Demosthenes or Tully
 Might own for brithers.


See sodger Hugh, 10 my watchman stented,
If poets e’er are represented;
I ken if that your sword were wanted,
 Ye’d lend a hand;
But when there’s ought to say anent it,
 Ye’re at a stand.

...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...held the heart of heroine.

Listen! I'll tell you about it... An orphan was Millie MacGee,
Living with Billie her brother, under the Yukon sky,
Sam, her pa, was cremated in the winter of nineteen-three,
As duly and truly related by the pen of an author guy.

A cute little kid was Billie, solemn and silken of hair,
The image of Jackie Coogan in the days before movies could speak.
Devoted to him was Millie, with more than a mother's care,
And happy were...Read more of this...

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Book: Shattered Sighs