Ae Fond Kiss

The Scots song "Ae fond kiss and then we sever" by the Scottish poet Robert Burns is more commonly known as "Ae fond kiss". It is Burns' most recorded love song.

After the publication of his collected poems, the Kilmarnock volume, Burns regularly travelled and stayed at Edinburgh. While there he established a platonic relationship with Mrs Agnes Maclehose and they began a regular correspondence using the pseudonyms 'Clarinda' and 'Sylvander'. Burns wrote 'Ae fond kiss' after their final meeting and sent it to Mrs McLehose on 27 December 1791 before she departed Edinburgh for Jamaica to be with her estranged husband.

The letter is held by National Library of Scotland as part of the Watson Autograph collection of manuscripts.

Burns' original setting of three verses in eight lines was set to the tune of Rory Dalls' Port. The musical score was published in the collection of Scottish folks songs known as the Scots Musical Museum.

Lyrics

The Ae is pronounced to rhyme with "hay".

Glossary

Ae Fond Kiss...

Ae Fond Kiss… (also known as Just a Kiss) is a 2004 romantic drama film directed by Ken Loach, and starring Atta Yaqub and Eva Birthistle. The title is taken from a Scottish song by Robert Burns, the complete line being "Ae Fond Kiss, and then we sever..."

The film explores the complications which ensue when second - generation Scottish Pakistani Casim (who is Muslim) and Roisin (a Catholic immigrant from Ireland) fall in love.

Plot

Set in Glasgow, the film tells the story of the Khan family. Casim is the only son of Pakistani Muslim immigrants to Scotland. He has a younger sister, Tahara, and an older sister Rukshana. Casim's parents, Tariq and Sadia, have arranged for him to marry his first cousin, Jasmine, and Casim is more or less happy with the arrangement. He then meets and falls in love with Roisin, an Irish Catholic immigrant (who is a part-time music teacher in Tahara's Catholic school). Roisin books a short holiday break for them both on seeing an advert in a travel agent's shop window, and while on holiday Casim tells her about the arranged marriage his family are planning for him. They then have to decide whether their love is strong enough to endure without the support of their respective communities.