To mark Robert Burns's birthday, which falls on Friday, six leading Scottish politicians choose a favourite poem by our national poet. First Minister Alex Salmond says, "Burns is my favourite Scot of all time." Indeed, he nominated him for Person of the Millennium. "If it hadn't been for Burns, a substantial part of what we understand as Scottishness, what people identify as Scottishness, the articulation of identity, would have been lost." From the wide canon of poems, the First Minister nominates A Man's a Man. Here is an extract; to read the complete poem visit my blog.

For a' That and a' That or A Man's A Man

Is there, for honest Poverty
That hings his head, and a' that;
The coward-slave, we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, and a' that,
Our toils obscure, and a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.


What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, and a' that,
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,
A Man's a Man for a' that.
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, and a' that;
The honest man, though e'er sae poor,
Is king o men for a' that.
Ye see yon birkie ca'd, a lord,
Wha struts, and stares, and a' that,
Though hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that.
For a' that, and a' that,
His ribband, star and a' that,
The man of independent mind,
He looks and laughs at a' that.


Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a' that,
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth
Shall bear the gree, and a' that.
For a' that, and a' that,
Its comin yet for a' that,
That Man to Man the warld o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.