---
title: "Epitaph for James Smith"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1785"
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/epitaph-for-james-smith/"
---

# Epitaph for James Smith

## Poem
Lament him, Mauchline husbands a’,  
He aften did assist ye;  
For had ye staid hale weeks awa,  
Your wives they ne’er had miss’d ye.

Ye Mauchline bairns, as on ye press  
To school in bands thegither,  
O tread ye lightly on his grass,—  
Perhaps he was your father!

---

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/epitaph-for-james-smith/