Themes in "To a Mouse": The fundamental themes of this poem are suffering, nature, and destruction. The poet mistakenly damages a mouse's home and understands that people control the world and disrupt the natural order. Thus, he decides to destroy all evidence of his crime. Burns also expresses his love for Scotland in this poem. When he says "Farewell to my country!," he is referring to Scotland. He leaves Scotland because he has been offered a job in America. However, even though he goes to America, he still loves Scotland and hopes to return someday. Another theme in this poem is kindness to animals. At the beginning of the poem, the mouse offers advice to the man: "Be kind to dumb creatures; they can't answer you." Then, later on, the man destroys the mouse's home. But since the mouse did not harm him, Burns decides not to destroy it instead. Last but not least, this poem is about forgiveness. Both the man and the mouse forgive each other for what happened earlier. They decide to start over with a new relationship. This poem was written in 1794. It is an adaptation of a French story called "La Belle Pyreneé".