Letter from Robert Burns to Alexander Cunningham, 27 July 1788
Ellisland in Nithsdale July 27th 1788
My godlike Friend - nay do not stare,
You think the phrase is odd like;
But "Got is Love" the Saints declare,
Then surely thou are godlike. -
And is thy Ardour still the same?
And kindled still at Anna?
Others may boast a partial flame,
But thou are a Voleant. -
Even Wedlock asks not Love beyond
Death's tie dissolving Portal;
But thou, omnipotently fond,
May'st promise Love Immortal.
My godlike Friend - nay do not stare,
You think the phrase is odd like;
But "Got is Love" the Saints declare,
Then surely thou are godlike. -
And is thy Ardour still the same?
And kindled still at Anna?
Others may boast a partial flame,
But thou are a Voleant. -
Even Wedlock asks not Love beyond
Death's tie dissolving Portal;
But thou, omnipotently fond,
May'st promise Love Immortal.
Thy Wounds such healing powers defy;
Such Symptoms dire attend them;
That last great Antihectic try,
Marriage, perhaps may mend them. -
Sweet Anna has an air, a grace,
Divine magnetic touching!
She takes, she charms - but who can trace
The process of Bewitching?
_______________________
My spur-galled, spavin'd Pegasus makes so hobbling a pro
gress over the Course of Extempore, that I must here alight
& try the food path of plain prose. - I have not met
with anytime this long while, my dear Sir, that has
given my inward man such a fillip as your kind
Epistle.
For my own Biographical story, I can only say with
the venerable Hebrew Patriarch; "Here, am I, with the Children
"God has given me!" I have been a Farmer since Whit-
Sunday, & am just now building a house - not a Palace to
[?] the train - attended steps of pride -swoln Greatness
Such Symptoms dire attend them;
That last great Antihectic try,
Marriage, perhaps may mend them. -
Sweet Anna has an air, a grace,
Divine magnetic touching!
She takes, she charms - but who can trace
The process of Bewitching?
_______________________
My spur-galled, spavin'd Pegasus makes so hobbling a pro
gress over the Course of Extempore, that I must here alight
& try the food path of plain prose. - I have not met
with anytime this long while, my dear Sir, that has
given my inward man such a fillip as your kind
Epistle.
For my own Biographical story, I can only say with
the venerable Hebrew Patriarch; "Here, am I, with the Children
"God has given me!" I have been a Farmer since Whit-
Sunday, & am just now building a house - not a Palace to
[?] the train - attended steps of pride -swoln Greatness

Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/47
- Alt. number
- 3.6075
- Date
- 27 July 1788
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Recipient
- Cunningham, Alexander
Archive information
Place of creation
Themes
Hierarchy
-
Letters from and to Robert Burns
(
a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- Letter from Robert Burns to Alexander Cunningham, 27 July 1788