“Non semper. . . foliis viduantur orni;
Tu semper urges flebilibus modis
Mysten ademptum.” – CAR. II., 9.
IT’S winter wi’ us here amang the mountains,
Patient they stand wi’ leaden clouds opprest;
Silent are a’ the birds an’ singin’ fountains,
Weary they seem, an’ auld, an’ wantin’ rest.
The braes are white wi’ snaw instead o’ gowans;
Sorrow an’ Care gang murnin’ doun the glen;
The wind is soughin’ thro’ the leafless rowans
For beauty gane that canna come agen.
–
But wi’ the spring auld Earth puts aff her murnins
For a’ her bonnie bairns that dee’d last year,
An’ smiles as prood-like o’ her braw new-born anes
As if she neither kent regret nor fear.
Fra the bereavit boughs the young buds peep oot
Till a’ the wauken’d wud ‘s a wavin’ green;
Fra the fa’en leaves below the wee flooers creep oot,
Raxin’ themsels an’ openin’ their een.
–
But wi’ the comin’ spring, my gude friend Allan,
To you comes neither pleasure nor relief;
It winna bring ye back your auldest callan’,
It canna keep ye company in grief.
Sorrow like yours endures the dark December,
Lasts an’ ootlives the lauchin’ licht o’ May;
Nature forgets, but Man maun aye remember,
Aye miss what’s ta’en awa’, and murn it aye.
–
An’ yet, my friend, this loss, this gey ill-spar’d ane,
Lies no’ like a dead leaf, a lifeless thing;
It’s mair like flooer-seed sawn intil a gairden
Certain to rise a’ radiant in the spring.
Tho’ distant far that spring, its pleasures gaither
Sweetness proportioned to the present pain;
Meanwhile, be to the faitherless a faither –
In ithers’ gude ye’re sure to find your ain.
–
Note. – The Care and the Sorrow unite to form the Dolour, a tributary of the Devon. The glen referred to is a romantic ravine of the Ochils, directly under Castle Campbell.
