There cam’ a strange wicht to our town-en’,
An’ the fient a body did him ken;
He tirl’d na lang, but he glided ben
Wi’ a dreary, dreary hum.
His face did glow like the glow o’ the west,
When the drumlie cloud has it half o’ercast;
Or the struggling moon when she’s sair distrest,
O sirs! ’twas Aiken-drum.
I trow the bauldest stood aback,
Wi’ a gape an’ a glow’r till their lugs did crack,