Ne’er summer morn was half sae sweet.
The turn of thought in this stanza bears a striking resemblance to the concluding lines of Ode cxi., of M. A. Flaminius. The following translation is close enough to point the resemblance:—
When, borne on Zephyr’s balmy wing
Again returns the purple spring
Instant the mead is gay with flowers
The forest smiles, and through its bowers
Once more the song-bird’s tuneful voice
Bids nature everywhere rejoice.
Yet fairer far and far more gay
To me were winter’s darkest day,