A Portrait of Robert Burns Robert Burns

1788 · Poem

The Henpecked Husband


Curs’d be the man, the poorest wretch in life,The crouching vassal to a tyrant wife!Who has no will but by her high permission,Who has not sixpence but in her possession;Who must to he, his dear friend’s secrets tell,Who dreads a curtain lecture worse than hell.Were such the wife had fallen to my part,I’d break her spirit or I’d break her heart;I’d charm her with the magic of a switch,I’d kiss her maids, and kick the perverse bitch.
Year
1788
Form
Poem
Location
Mossgiel
Source
Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns