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  • Non Semper Imbres
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Non Semper Imbres

J. Logie Robertson

It’s no aye rainin’ on the misty Achils,
It’s no aye white wi’ winter on Nigour ;
The winds are no’ sae mony sorrowin’ Rachels,
That grieve, and o’ their grief will no’ gie owre.

Dark are Benarty slopes, an’ the steep Lomon’
Flings a lang shadow on the watter plain ;
But fair Lochleven’s no for ever gloomin’,
An’ Devon’s no’ aye dark wi’ Lammas rain.

The birks tho’ bare, an’ the sune-naked ashes,
Not always widow’d of their leaves appear ;
The oaks cry oot beneath November’s lashes,
But not for all the months that mak’ the year.

Comes round a time, comes round at last tho’ creepin’,
And green and glad again stand buss an’ tree ;
E’en tender gowans, thro’ the young gress peepin’,
Rise in their weakness, and owre-rin the lea.

Thus Nature sorrows, and forgets her sorrow ;
And Reason soberly approves her way :
Why should we shut oor een against to-morrow
Because our sky was clouded yesterday ?


J. Logie Robertson

Tags:

19th century poems hope Optimism & Happiness Scots Scots scottish poems seasons weather
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J. Logie Robertson1846 - 1922

The author of the popular 'Hughies' - versions in Scots of the odes of Horace, published under the pen-name Hugh Haliburton - J. Logie Robertson was an Edinburgh schoolmaster and writer on Scottish literature and culture.
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