This week’s choice is “Ae Fond Kiss” to mark the annual celebration of Scotland’s premier poet Robert Burns.
I’ll ne’er blame my partial fancy,
Robert Burns (1759—1796)
Naething could resist my Nancy;
But to see her was to love her;
Love but her, and love forever.
Poem 356. Ae Fond Kiss
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, and then forever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee.
Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerfu’ twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me.
I’ll ne’er blame my partial fancy,
Naething could resist my Nancy;
But to see her was to love her;
Love but her, and love forever.
Had we never lov’d sae kindly,
Had we never lov’d sae blindly,
Never met—or never parted—
We had ne’er been broken-hearted.
Fare thee weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare thee weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace. enjoyment, love, and pleasure!
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, alas, forever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee!
This Scots song was written by Burns after his platonic relationship and regular correspondence with the poet Agnes Maclehose (also known as Nancy, and Clarinda to Burns’s followers) came to an end and she rejoined her estranged husband in Jamaica, though the reunion was not to last. Burns sent her the manuscript of Ae Fond Kiss before she left. Burns set it to the tune of “Rory Dall’s Port” but it is now associated with a different melody. The Wikipedia article on Ruairí Dall Ó Catháin (sometimes credited with writing “Rory Dall’s Port”) suggests that Eddi Reader’s version of the song is derived from Burns’s original.
Burns laments the ending of a relationship—his Nancy is evidently destined for another, and all she leaves him is “a fond kiss” and profound despair—he weeps “heart-wrung tears”, the only thing he can toast her with. Others whose sweethearts allow the prospect of a reunion are blessed by Fortune, but not him—“Dark despair around benights me”.
The second stanza praises his Nancy—he couldn’t help his strong attraction (or “partial fancy”) because no one could have resisted her attraction—“to see her was to love her” and such a love is eternal—if it had not been so strong and deep, had they never met, their hearts would still be intact.
In the third stanza, he blesses her, praising her again as “first and fairest” and wishes her every good thing that life can bring her: “Peace, enjoyment, love, and pleasure!” As for him, he sinks back into his despair as the final moment arrives—“Ae fareweel, alas, forever!”
According to Eddi Reader, Nancy wrote in her diary every 13th/14th December for 40 years that it was the anniversary of the parting but Burns, it seems, got over his despair pretty quickly—he had already seduced her maid Jenny Clow, who bore him a son, and was married to Jean Armour, already the mother of three of the nine children they would have together.
I like this poem because it is a great expression of despair at the permanent loss of someone we love. In Burns’s day, Jamaica was effectively as distant as the other side of the Moon, so Agnes was pretty much lost to him. Although global communications now mean that we can communicate across the continents, there is always one parting that is final, and Burns expresses the same despair we feel when that moment arrives, whether we’re able to bid the other farewell with a fond kiss or not.
There are some great phrases in the song too—“Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,/While the star of hope she leaves him?” and the line “But to see her was to love her” which has an echo in the song by the Teddy Bears “To Know Him Is to Love Him”—the title apparently inspired by the words “To Know Him Was to Love Him” on the gravestone of Phil Spector’s father. It seems likely that the epitaph was in turn inspired by Burns’s song. The lines “Thine be ilka joy and treasure,/Peace, enjoyment, love, and pleasure!” reflect the way we feel about our beloved—we wish them nothing but the best.
There are several excellent performances of the song on YouTube: Eddi Reader and Karen Matheson have both produced really lovely versions.