O Poortith cauld, and restless love, Ye wrack my peace between ye; Yet poortith a' I could forgive An 'twere na for my Jeanie. O why should Fate sic pleasure have, Life's dearest bands untwining?

I Love My Love in Secret has a various provenance of airs and original words, with the later lines (ll.9-12) definitely Burns' addition. The subject, too, references a long-standing tradition of ...

Let not Woman e'er complain Of inconstancy in love; Let not Woman e'er complain, Fickle Man is apt to rove: Look abroad through Nature's range, Nature's mighty law is CHANGE; Ladies would it not ...

Why urge the only, one request You know I will deny! Your thought, if Love must harbour there, Conceal it in that thought; Nor cause me from my bosom tear The very friend I sought.

Throughout, the tone is tender and caring, and the poem celebrates the life of the child, while condemning the life-denying disapproval of members of the kirk who, Burns said, would 'ca' me ...

O were my Love yon Lilack fair, Wi' purple blossoms to the Spring; And I, a bird to shelter there, When wearied on my little wing. How I wad mourn, when it was torn By Autumn wild, and Winter rude!