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Orellana and Other Poems

By J. Logie Robertson
Robertson, J. Logie (1846-1922)

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[section]
  
APOLOGY FOR POESY.
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ORELLANA
 I. 
BOOK I.
 II. 
BOOK II.
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BRIERS
 I. 
I. IN MEMORIAM.
 II. 
II. THE MASK OF MISERY.
 III. 
III. FOUND DEAD.
 IV. 
IV. THESE AND THOSE.
 V. 
V. PARTING AND MEETING.
 VI. 
VI. THE PLEADER.
 VII. 
VII. DELILAH.
 VIII. 
VIII. THE TWO SUNSETS.
 IX. 
IX. THE PROMENADE.
 X. 
X. JOAN THAMSON'S MAN.
 XI. 
XI. WITHOUT AND WITHIN.
 XII. 
XII. THE AULD HOOSE AND THE NEW.
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SYLVÆ
  
THE GENIUS OF THE GLEN.
  
THE MEET AT MIDNIGHT.
  
SIMMER LOST:
  
A GIFT FOR A BRIDE.
  
THE CAMP ON THE OCHILS.
  
ADVENTUS VERIS.
  
THE LAD OF BENARTY.
  
PINES AND BOULDER.
  
THE TWO FLOWERS.
  
IN THE KNOCK-WOOD.
  
THE LIGHT ON THE HILLSIDE.
  
HEIGH-HO! THE WIND AND THE RAIN!
  
YE FATE OF YE BOOK.
  
THE FIFTEENTH OF AUGUST.
  
WORKING AND IDLING.
  
BLOOMTIME: A SONG.
  
A DITHYRAMB.
  
COMPOSING A SONNET.
  
DAVID.
  
OUR MARY: HER FATE.
  
RETURN TO EDINBURGH AFTER THE HOLIDAYS.
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SONNETS
  
APRIL.
  
NIGHT.
  
A BACK-LYING FARM.
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“THY WILL BE DONE.”
 I. 
I.—THE PAINTING.
 II. 
II.—TO THE PAINTER.
  
TENANTLESS.
  
ON GRANTON PIER.
  
ON LOMOND HILL.
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TWO SONNETS IN DEFENCE OF SONG.
 I. 
I. MORNING.
 II. 
II. EVENING.
  
BERRY-HILL.
  
A HUMOUR OF THE LINKS.
  
LOCHLEVEN IN NOVEMBER.
  
THE LAWN-ADONIS.
  
[A great man dies, or whom the world calls great]
  
OLD AGE—THE WRESTLER.
  
WINTER'S PALE MARTYR.
  
“A BARBARY HEN.”
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NORWEGIAN SONNETS
 I. 
I. BALDER BACK!
 II. 
II. UP THE SKAGER RACK.
 III. 
III. WELCOME!
 IV. 
IV. THAT SPEAR.
 V. 
V. MILTON IN NORWAY.
 VI. 
VI. THE SCENERY—GO AND SEE IT!
 VII. 
VII. A TERROR OF THE TWILIGHT.
 VIII. 
VIII. A WATERFALL WITHIN A WOOD.
 IX. 
IX. MINERVA IN THE SÆTERSDAL.
 X. 
X. THE LITTLE MEAL-MILL.
 XI. 
XI. THE CLIMB FROM VALLË.
 XII. 
XII. “PAA HEJA:” LIFE ON THE HEIGHTS.
 XIII. 
XIII. THE MOUNTAIN LAUREATE.
 XIV. 
XIV. A THOUGHT OF HOME.
 XV. 
XV. MORNING—THE MOUNTAIN FAMILY AT THEIR DEVOTIONS.
 XVI. 
XVI. A CANDIDATE FOR HONOURS.
 XVII. 
XVII. “THE LAST INFIRMITY.”
 XVIII. 
XVIII. HARVEST IN THE DALE.
 XIX. 
XIX. ARTHUR'S SEAT AGAIN!
 XX. 
XX. A GREY MORNING AT GRANTON.
 XXI. 
XXI. ON THE PIER AT BURNTISLAND.
 XXII. 
XXII. A RARE DIP.
 XXIII. 
XXIII. FROM THE WICKS OF BAIGLIE.
 XXIV. 
XXIV. THELEMARKEN: A PER-CONTRA.

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201

DAVID.

He sits above the mists of Time,
Above the poet throng;
He sits on morning heights sublime
The king of choral song.
All lesser bards on lower heights
Fall at his feet their lyres,
Unknown to them his high delights
—Unfelt his far desires!
They sing of mortal grief and mirth
In measures sweet to hear:
His song ambitious spurning earth
Makes for Jehovah's ear!
202

He soars unmated and alone
Into eternal day,
The angel-host around the throne
Clear for his wing a way!
The Sons of Morning left behind
Cease after him to sing,
Not theirs that fervour of the mind
That fury of the wing!
The burning offering of his praise
To heaven himself bears he,
And with impetuous ardour lays
Even on Jehovah's knee!
No seraph's fear his soul can tame,
Nor cherub overawed;
To him with first and foremost claim
Jehovah is a God!
203

The universe through all its bounds
Is but a means of praise,
An orchestra of many sounds
Concerting with his lays!
Hark, how to his conducting rod
He calls creation's train
To hymn the praises of his God,
And swell his choral strain!

PSALM CXLVIII.

Praise we the Lord! Begin, ye matchless creatures,
The first-born of His might,
Circling His glory till your young-God features
Absorb the eternal Light!
Take up the song, ye Seraphim! Prolong,
Ye Cherubim, the pæan!
Drown with His praise, ye meaner angel-throng,
The echoing Empyrean!
204

Praise Him, thou vast of space, that, like an ocean,
The eternal heavens between
And the mysterious maze of starry motion,
Stretchest afar serene!
Praise Him, ye Powers, that occupy with light
Creation's outer porches,
Fronting the chaos of primeval Night
With the eternal torches!
Praise Him, thou Sun, that from the flames of Morning
Upleapest crowned with light!
Praise Him, thou Moon, retiring and returning
To shepherdess the night!
Praise Him, ye wanderers of the Milky Way!
Ye whispering Constellations!
Ye Comets! and ye Meteor Stars that stray
To unknown destinations!
205

Awake, thou Earth! and wake thy slumbering legions,
And shout aloud, and show
The challenge of the Everlasting Regions
Is answered from below!
Praise Him, ye Winds, that sweep the deep sublime!
Ye lower Seas and Surges!
Praise Him, ye Thunders of the torrid clime!
Praise Him, ye Polar Scourges!
Praise Him, ye Clouds, ye stately sailing Fountains!
Ye Cataracts and ye Rills!
Ye floating Icebergs and ye burning Mountains!
Ye Deserts and ye Hills!
Praise Him, ye Earthquakes, from your secret mines!
Ye rushing Avalanches!
Praise Him, ye congregated Palms, ye Pines!
—Forests with all your branches!
206

Praise Him, ye Camels and ye Flocks domestic,
That whiten the green plain!
Praise Him, thou Terror of the Woods, majestic
With turbulence of mane!
Praise Him, ye Herds upon a thousand hills!
Ye Colts, without a rider,
That drink the freedom of the desert rills,
Praise Him, the All-provider!
Praise Him, thou Eagle, from thy pinions flinging
A twilight o'er the sea!
Praise Him, ye Doves! Praise Him, ye Swallows, winging
O'er isles and oceans free!
Praise Him, ye Sons of Eve, of all estates,
Kindreds, and tongues, and nations!
Praise Him, ye Kings, ye sceptred Potentates!
Ye Priests, with heart oblations!
207

Praise Him on chord, and reed, and with your voices,
All peoples, maids, and men!
Praise Him together, while the heaven rejoices
Answering the earth again!
Praise Him alone, for He alone is great
Beyond all mark and measure;
And we are but His handiwork, who wait
Well pleased upon His pleasure!
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