Address to a Haggis

"Address to a Haggis" is a Scots-language poem written by Robert Burns in 1786. It was first published in the Caledonian Mercury on 19 December of that year, as "Address to a Haggice". The following year, it appeared in the Edinburgh Edition of Burns's Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, with a different final verse.
Like many of Burns's poems, "Address to a Haggis" extols the virtues of something honest and humble—in this case, the peasant dish haggis, which Burns compares favourably with the French dishes that were fashionable in his time. Both the dish and the poem have become essential features of Burns suppers, annual events celebrating the poet's life and works. Customarily, the assembly stands as a haggis is brought in on a silver salver, preceded by a bagpiper. The host or a guest then recites the poem, slicing open the haggis at the appropriate moment with a ceremonial knife.