---
title: "Epigram on Rough Roads"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1786"
location: "Mossgiel"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/epigram-on-rough-roads/"
---

# Epigram on Rough Roads

## Poem
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’ Im not wi’ Scripture cram’d,  
I’m sure the Bible says  
That heedless sinners shall be damn’d,  
Unless they mend their ways.

## Footnotes
1. A compliment to the Montgomeries of Coilsfield, on the Feal or Faile, a tributary of the Ayr.
2. Mrs. Stewart of Stair, an early patroness of the poet.
3. The house of Professor Dugald Stewart.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/epigram-on-rough-roads/