Pansies (Lawrence)/What Ails Thee?—

WHAT AILS THEE?——
What ails thee then, woman, what ails thee?
doesn't ter know?

If tha canna say't, come then an' scraight it out on my bosom!
Eh?—Men doesna ha'e bosoms? 'appen not, on'y tha knows what I mean.
Come then, tha can scraight it out on my shirt-front
an' tha'lt feel better.

  —In the first place, I don't scraight.
  And if I did, I certainly couldn't scraight it out.
  And if I could, the last place I should choose
  would be your shirt-front
  or your manly bosom either.
  So leave off trying to put the Robbie Burns touch over me
  and kindly hand me the cigarettes
  if you haven't smoked them all,
  hich you're much more likely to do
  than to shelter anybody from the cau-auld blast.—