Scottish Poetry Selection
- To Alison Cunningham, From Her Boy
Robert Louis Stevenson was a sickly child who needed a lot of care and attention. That was provided in large measure by his nurse. In later life, Stevenson showed his gratitude and appreciation by writing these charming lines as a dedication to his book of poetry "A Child's Garden of Verses".
To Alison Cunningham,
For the long nights you lay awake
From Her Boy
And watched for my unworthy sake:
For your most comfortable hand
That led me through the uneven land:
For all the story-books you read:
For all the pains you comforted:
For all you pitied, all you bore,
In sad and happy days of yore: -
My second Mother, my first Wife,
The angel of my infant life -
From the sick child, now well and old,
Take, nurse, the little book you hold!And grant it, Heaven, that all who read
May find as dear a nurse at need,
And every child who lists my rhyme,
In the bright, fireside, nursery clime,
May hear it in as kind a voice
As made my childish days rejoice!
Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
