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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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v

APOLOGY FOR POESY.

Form what far regions of the Infinite
Beyond the solar glow
I have been sent from uncreated light,
And why to this dim borderland of Night,
My Lord, I do not know.
But Thou art wise; and in my mortal sphere,
Pent in this prison tower,
Blown to me from my spirit-home I hear,
Sounding, now faint and far, now near and clear,
Harmonies every hour.
The sun goes surging up the East in song;
The moon in muffled strain
Repeats the pæan, whispering it among
The choral stars, that listen and prolong,
And cease and sing again.
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Ocean all through his many-chambered seas,
The seas through all their bays,
Rivers and rills, forests with all their trees,
Tempest, and thunder, and the wandering breeze,
My God, proclaim Thy praise.
—And oft when midnight buries vale and hill,
Loosening its music free,
My heart instinctive sings, as sea-shells will,
Though inland carried far, faithfully still
Echo their parent sea.
These are of Thee—these broken harmonies,
That wander from Thy lyre
Like wind-blown blossoms of the Hesperides,
Or spray sun-kissed to golden irises
And twists of coloured fire.
I hear and thrill;—not as the soulless cliff
Deaf to the vocal sea,
But answering to the joy like dancing skiff:
—God of all Harmony! forgive me if
I dare to answer Thee!
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