---
title: "On Tam the Chapman"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1784"
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/on-tam-the-chapman/"
---

# On Tam the Chapman

## Poem
As Tam the chapman on a day,  
Wi’Death forgather’d by the way,  
Weel pleas’d, he greets a wight so famous,  
And Death was nae less pleas’d wi’ Thomas,  
Wha cheerfully lays down his pack,  
And there blaws up a hearty crack:  
His social, friendly, honest heart  
Sae tickled Death, they could na part;  
Sae, after viewing knives and garters,  
Death taks him hame to gie him quarters.

---

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/on-tam-the-chapman/