Robert Burns wrote peerless love songs in his own voice but could also show sympathetic understanding of the emotional plight of women who have lost out in love. Think of Ye Banks and Braes o’ Bonie Doon (“Wi’ lichtsome heart I pu’d a rose,/ Fu’ sweet upon its thorny tree;/ And my fause Luver staw my rose,/ But, ah! he left the thorn wi’ me.”).
Here is another lesser known, but equally poignant, poem-cum-song, articulating the thoughts of a deserted woman.
THE WINTER IT IS PAST
The winter it is past, and the summer’s come at last,
And the small birds sing in ev’ry tree;
The hearts of these are glad, but mine is very sad,
For my Lover has parted from me.
~
The rose upon the brier, by the waters running clear,
May have charms for the linnet or the bee;
Their little loves are blest and their little hearts at rest,
But my Lover has parted from me.
~
My love is like the sun, in the firmament does run,
For ever constant and true;
But his is like the moon that wanders up and down,
And every month it is new.
~
All you that are in love and cannot it remove,
I pity the pains you endure;
For experience makes me know that your hearts are full of woe,
A woe that no mortal can cure.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article