Poem of the Day - Part 91

A Song for Kilts

This is a poem by Scottish poet Robert Service (1874-1958) on a traditional Scottish subject.  And speaking of tradition, you know it's traditional not to wear underwear under a kilt.

How grand the human race would be

    If every man would wear a kilt,

A flirt of Tartan finery,

    Instead of trousers, custom built!

Nay, do not think I speak to joke:

    (You know I'm not that kind of man),

I am convinced that all men folk.

    Should wear the costume of a Clan.

Imagine how it's braw and clean

    As in the wind it flutters free;

And so conducive to hygiene

    In its sublime simplicity.

No fool fly-buttons to adjust,—

    Wi' shanks and maybe buttocks bare;

Oh chiels, just take my word on trust,

    A bonny kilt's the only wear.

'Twill save a lot of siller too,

    (And here a canny Scotsman speaks),

For one good kilt will wear you through

    A half-a-dozen pairs of breeks.

And how it's healthy in the breeze!

    And how it swings with saucy tilt!

How lassies love athletic knees

    Below the waggle of a kilt!

True, I just wear one in my mind,

    Since sent to school by Celtic aunts,

When girls would flip it up behind,

    Until I begged for lowland pants.

But now none dare do that to me,

    And so I sing with lyric lilt,—

How happier the world would be

    If every male would wear a kilt!