The Lazy Mist
written in 1788
The Lazy Mist - meaning Summary
Autumnal Meditation on Mortality
Robert Burns uses an autumn-to-winter scene to meditate on aging, wasted opportunities, and the relentless approach of fate. The poem moves from a calm, misty landscape into personal reflection: the speaker counts years lived, laments what was lost or misspent, and recognizes diminishing strength and joy. Toned by resignation rather than outrage, the closing lines concede that life’s pleasures are insufficient and suggest a hope or necessity for something beyond mortal existence. Overall, the poem frames personal melancholy through seasonal change to highlight mortality and moral reckoning.
Read Complete AnalysesThe lazy mist hangs from the brow of the hill, Concealing the course of the dark-winding rill; How languid the scenes, late so sprightly, appear, As Autumn to Winter resigns the pale year. The forests are leafless, the meadows are brown, And all the gay foppery of summer is flown: Apart let me wander, apart let me muse, How quick Time is flying, how keen Fate pursues. How long I have liv'd - but how much liv'd in vain; How little of life's scanty span may remain: What aspects, old Time, in his progress, has worn; What ties, cruel Fate, in my bosom has torn. How foolish, or worse, till our summit is gain'd! And downward, how weaken'd, how darken'd, how pain'd! Life is not worth having with all it can give, For something beyond it poor man sure must live.
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