---
title: "The Winter of Life"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1794"
location: "Dumfries"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/the-winter-of-life/"
---

# The Winter of Life

## Poem
But lately seen in gladsome green,  
The woods rejoic’d the day,  
Thro’ gentle showers, the laughing flowers  
In double pride were gay:  
But now our joys are fled  
On winter blasts awa;  
Yet maiden May, in rich array,  
Again shall bring them a’.

But my white pow, nae kindly thowe  
Shall melt the snaws of Age;  
My trunk of eild, but buss or beild,  
Sinks in Time’s wintry rage.  
Oh, Age has weary days,  
And nights o’ sleepless pain:  
Thou golden time, o’ Youthfu’ prime,  
Why comes thou not again!

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/the-winter-of-life/