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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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II.—TO THE PAINTER.

Creator of The Christ! when first I stood
Before thy handiwork, and overawed
Beheld the mystery of the Son of God
Sinless yet suffering in the midnight wood,
Suffering, and yet to suffering quite subdued,
How could I think of thee? how could I laud
The power that pained me so? or how applaud
In presence of that brow with blood bedewed?
And yet I owe a dearer debt to thee
Than I have paid to any: there will rise
Within my memory Paul; yet even he,
The great Apostle, failed to realise
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As thou hast done, for thou hast made me see
The Christ in Scotland with my actual eyes!
Great Painter! unto thee the awful dower
Of genius has been given to dare and do,—
To image Deity in pain, pursue
The image into act, hour after hour,
And bid it live! I tremble for the power,
God-lent and (surely for great ends) to few,
That thus creates the agony anew
Which God hid in Gethsemanë's dark bower!
—For they will come, the idle and the rude,
And these will praise thy skill, and those will blame;
And some, indulgent of a prying mood,
Will stand and stare, departing as they came;
And thou wilt seem, thy work misunderstood,
In these to put the Lord to open shame!
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