---
title: "The Selkirk Grace"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1794"
location: "Dumfries"
attribution: "Recited by Burns at a dinner with the Earl of Selkirk at St Mary’s Isle in 1794, and known as the Selkirk Grace ever since. A near-identical four-line grace was current in 17th-century Scotland as the Covenanter’s (or Galloway) Grace, so Burns almost certainly did not write it — he picked it up on his travels. Included here because it is recited at every Burns Supper and remains inseparable from his memory."
source: "Traditional Scots grace; popularised by Burns at St Mary’s Isle, 1794. Text after the form preserved in 18th–19th-century Burns editions."
source_url: "https://www.scotsmagazine.com/articles/selkirk-grace/"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/the-selkirk-grace/"
---

# The Selkirk Grace

## Attribution note
Recited by Burns at a dinner with the Earl of Selkirk at St Mary’s Isle in 1794, and known as the Selkirk Grace ever since. A near-identical four-line grace was current in 17th-century Scotland as the Covenanter’s (or Galloway) Grace, so Burns almost certainly did not write it — he picked it up on his travels. Included here because it is recited at every Burns Supper and remains inseparable from his memory.

## Poem
Some hae meat and canna eat,  
And some wad eat that want it,  
But we hae meat and we can eat,  
Sae let the Lord be Thankit!

---

Source: [Traditional Scots grace; popularised by Burns at St Mary’s Isle, 1794. Text after the form preserved in 18th–19th-century Burns editions.](https://www.scotsmagazine.com/articles/selkirk-grace/)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/the-selkirk-grace/