Lyric Poem · Nature
To Mary in Heaven
by Robert Burns
1THOU ling’ring star, with lessening ray,
2 That lov’st to greet the early morn,
3Again thou usher’st in the day
4 My Mary from my soul was torn.
5O Mary! dear departed shade!
6 Where is thy place of blissful rest?
7See’st thou thy lover lowly laid?
8 Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast?
9That sacred hour can I forget,
10 Can I forget the hallow’d grove,
11Where, by the winding Ayr, we met,
12 To live one day of parting love!
13Eternity will not efface
14 Those records dear of transports past,
15Thy image at our last embrace,
16 Ah! little thought we ’twas our last!
17Ayr, gurgling, kiss’d his pebbled shore,
18 O’erhung with wild-woods, thickening green;
19The fragrant birch and hawthorn hoar,
20 ’Twin’d amorous round the raptur’d scene:
21The flowers sprang wanton to be prest,
22 The birds sang love on every spray;
23Till too, too soon, the glowing west,
24 Proclaim’d the speed of winged day.
25Still o’er these scenes my mem’ry wakes,
26 And fondly broods with miser-care;
27Time but th’ impression stronger makes,
28 As streams their channels deeper wear,
29My Mary! dear departed shade!
30 Where is thy blissful place of rest?
31See’st thou thy lover lowly laid?
32 Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast?
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“To Mary in Heaven” by Robert Burns — quilloak.com/poems/to-mary-in-heaven
Quick facts
- Poem
- To Mary in Heaven
- Poet
- Robert Burns
- Length
- 32 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Love, Peace
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 32 lines · 4 octaves
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
- Refrains
- “See’st thou thy lover lowly laid?”“Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast?”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Robert Burns1759–1796
- Source record
- PoetryDBTo Mary in Heaven by robert-burns, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 ee39106bc12d9efa…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.