A Poem by John Quincy Adams on Love and Friendship

The Gilder Lehrman Collection has a multitude of personal letters and writings by prominent politicians, which often reveal a lighter side to their austere public personas. This poem written in 1829 by John Quincy Adams to a female friend, Miss Anna McKnight, vividly and cheekily describes his admiration for her. Adams was 63 when he penned this poem, and married to Louisa Catherine Adams—two factors that kept him from offering "thee my heart." After contemplating the various types of love he could feel for Miss McKnight, he proclaims his affection comes from a mix of all—that of "lover - brother - father - friend."

To Miss Anna M^cKnight

Fair Anna, how shall I describe
     My bosom’s deep reflection,
Call’d in thy Album to inscribe
     The tribute of Affection?
To say I love thee were too bold –
     Love, is a youthful Passion
And three score Winters are too cold
     For Spring and Summer’s Fashion

I cannot offer thee my heart –
     That, long has been another’s –
For me, too warm the Lover’s past:
     Not warm enough the brother’s –
Thy Father, Anna, Shall I be?
     That Sentiment is cheering –
But inward looking, soon I see
     An impulse more endearing.

The bloom of Friendship, Sweetly blows
     Nor Spinning heads, nor toiling:
But calm, the blood of Friendship flows;
     And mine for thee is boiling.
Any pulses, mix’d emotions blend,
     Unchang’d by Wind or Weather –
Of Lover – Brother – Father – Friend
     So take them all together