And I'll gae to my Anna.
She is the sunshine o' my ee,
To live but her I canna; [without]
Had I on earth but wishes three,
The first should be my Anna.

Nothing could be more hopeless than to attempt to classify Burns's
songs according to the amours that occasioned them, and to seek to
find a constant relation between the reality and intensity of the
passion and the vitality of the poetry. At times some relation does
seem apparent, as we may discern beneath the vigor of the song just
quoted a trace of a conscious attempt to brave his conscience in
connection with the one proved infidelity to Jean after his marriage.
Again, in such songs as _Of a' the Airts_, _Poortith Cauld_, and
others addressed to Jean herself, we have an expression of his less
than rapturous but entirely genuine affection for his wife.


OF A' THE AIRTS

Of a' the airts the wind can blaw, [directions]
I dearly like the west,
For there the bonnie lassie lives,
The lassie I lo'e best: [love]
There wild woods grow, and rivers row, [roll]
And mony a hill between;
But day and night my fancy's flight
Is ever wi' my Jean.

I see her in the dewy flowers,