---
title: "Epitaph on My Ever Honoured Father"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1784"
location: "Mossgiel"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/epitaph-on-my-ever-honoured-father/"
---

# Epitaph on My Ever Honoured Father

## Poem
O ye whose cheek the tear of pity stains,  
Draw near with pious rev’rence, and attend!  
Here lie the loving husband’s dear remains,  
The tender father, and the gen’rous friend;  
The pitying heart that felt for human woe,  
The dauntless heart that fear’d no human pride;  
The friend of man—to vice alone a foe;  
For “ev’n his failings lean’d to virtue’s side.”

## Footnotes
1. Goldsmith.—R.B.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/epitaph-on-my-ever-honoured-father/