---
title: "Inscription for the Headstone of Fergusson the Poet"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1787"
location: "Edinburgh"
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/inscription-for-the-headstone-of-fergusson-the-poet/"
---

# Inscription for the Headstone of Fergusson the Poet

## Epigraph
*A quotation Burns set above the poem, by another hand:*

> No sculptured marble here, nor pompous lay,
> No storied urn nor animated bust;
> This simple stone directs pale Scotia’s way,
> To pour her sorrows o’er the Poet’s dust.
> 
> — Additional Stanzas

## Poem
She mourns, sweet tuneful youth, thy hapless fate;  
Tho’ all the powers of song thy fancy fired,  
Yet Luxury and Wealth lay by in state,  
And, thankless, starv’d what they so much admired.

This tribute, with a tear, now gives  
A brother Bard—he can no more bestow:  
But dear to fame thy Song immortal lives,  
A nobler monument than Art can shew.

Inscribed Under Fergusson’s Portrait

Curse on ungrateful man, that can be pleased,  
And yet can starve the author of the pleasure.  
O thou, my elder brother in misfortune,  
By far my elder brother in the Muses,  
With tears I pity thy unhappy fate!  
Why is the Bard unpitied by the world,  
Yet has so keen a relish of its pleasures?

## Footnotes
1. The stone was erected at Burns’ expenses in February—March, 1789.

---

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/inscription-for-the-headstone-of-fergusson-the-poet/