Burns wrote about this poem in his First Commonplace Book, which was dated March 1784. ‘There was a certain period of my life that my spirit was broke by repeated losses and disasters, which ...

O Thou dread Pow'r, who reign'st above! I know Thou wilt me hear; When for this scene of peace and love, I make this pray'r sincere. The hoary Sire - the mortal stroke, Long, long be pleas'd to ...