Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet
To think how monie counsels sweet,
How monie lengthened, sage advices,
The husband frae the wife despises.

In Scots dialect (“gars me greet” = makes me weep), the speaker addresses “gentle dames” with mock-solemn sympathy, lamenting how often husbands ignore their wives’ “counsels sweet” and “sage advices.” The tone is characteristically Burnsian: comic on the surface, but edged with social observation. The lines point to a familiar domestic imbalance—women’s practical intelligence and moral counsel being undervalued within marriage—while also inviting the audience (especially women) to share in a wry recognition of the pattern. The exaggerated sorrow (“it gars me greet”) heightens the satire, suggesting that the problem is so common it has become a cultural joke, even as it remains a real grievance.