Celtic Poems: Song - The Winter it is Past

The winter it is past, and the summer comes at last
And the small birds, they sing on ev’ry tree;
Now ev’ry thing is glad, while I am very sad,
Since my true love is parted from me.

The rose upon the breer, 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 true love is parted from me. 

(c) Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Curiously these verses were included in the song "The Curragh of Kildare",  formerly performed and popularised by The Johnstons, and later by Christy Moore, while versions also exist by The Fureys, Bert Jansch and others. It is said that the Scottish poet Robert Burns re-wrote and polished these verses from "The Lovesick Maid" ballad, which referred to a bandit called Johnson, who was hanged in 1750 for robbery in the Curragh, at Kildare, in Ireland.