University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Orellana and Other Poems

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

collapse section 
[section]
  
APOLOGY FOR POESY.
collapse section 
ORELLANA
 I. 
BOOK I.
 II. 
BOOK II.
collapse section 
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.
collapse section 
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.
collapse section 
SONNETS
  
APRIL.
  
NIGHT.
  
A BACK-LYING FARM.
collapse section 
“THY WILL BE DONE.”
 I. 
I.—THE PAINTING.
 II. 
II.—TO THE PAINTER.
  
TENANTLESS.
  
ON GRANTON PIER.
  
ON LOMOND HILL.
collapse section 
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.”
collapse section 
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.

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Orellana and Other Poems
next section
257

XVII. “THE LAST INFIRMITY.”

The god!—or else a fierce consuming flame!
Spare me, Apollo of the burning brow!
Spare me! It was a rash novitiate's vow
When to thy shrine with shameful haste I came
And vowed, alas! with an unworthy aim,
To be a priest of thine: forgive me now
And let me go, or take me where I bow
And purge me of that lust of earthly fame!
—Thus, like a weed that woos the summer sun
To wither in the fierceness of his glance,
The ignoble wish that I had told to none
And scarcely to myself, by sweet mischance,
Seeking to honour it, was clean undone,
Pierced by Apollo's keen detecting lance.
previous section Orellana and Other Poems
next section