---
title: "Lines on Fergusson, the Poet"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1792"
location: "Dumfries"
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/lines-on-fergusson-the-poet/"
---

# Lines on Fergusson, the Poet

## Poem
Ill-fated genius! Heaven-taught Fergusson!  
What heart that feels and will not yield a tear,  
To think Life’s sun did set e’er well begun  
To shed its influence on thy bright career.

O why should truest Worth and Genius pine  
Beneath the iron grasp of Want and Woe,  
While titled knaves and idiot—Greatness shine  
In all the splendour Fortune can bestow?

---

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/lines-on-fergusson-the-poet/