In Cornwall and Across the Sea With Poems Written in Devonshire. By Douglas B. W. Sladen |
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LIGHT AND SHADE. |
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 | In Cornwall and Across the Sea |  |
172
LIGHT AND SHADE.
[Written at Old Government House, Parramatta,
New South Wales.]
Beneath an Austral winter sun,
A worn man and a little child
Roam in a garden, overrun
With creepers and with beds gone wild;
The one with sallow sunken cheek
And doubled back and wasted hands
And hollow voice and motions weak
Telling of years in tropic lands,
The other revelling in wealth
Of careless joy and glowing health.
A worn man and a little child
Roam in a garden, overrun
With creepers and with beds gone wild;
The one with sallow sunken cheek
And doubled back and wasted hands
And hollow voice and motions weak
Telling of years in tropic lands,
The other revelling in wealth
Of careless joy and glowing health.
173
They both are idle: one doth pause
Since now his day for work is done,
The little laughing child because
His day for work hath not begun:
They play together—the worn man
Finding the infant's tricks and talk
Able to exorcise and ban
The doubts that dog his daily walk,
The wondering infant glad to find
One so unoccupied and kind.
Since now his day for work is done,
The little laughing child because
His day for work hath not begun:
They play together—the worn man
Finding the infant's tricks and talk
Able to exorcise and ban
The doubts that dog his daily walk,
The wondering infant glad to find
One so unoccupied and kind.
The worn man sought the gentle clime
Of this delightful, genial land,
Feeling that else in no long time
He would be gathered to God's hand.
The little sunny child was born
In this same sunny continent,
As full of morning as this morn,
In which the warmth and cool are blent
In that proportion just, which gives
Health and delight to all that lives.
Of this delightful, genial land,
Feeling that else in no long time
He would be gathered to God's hand.
The little sunny child was born
In this same sunny continent,
As full of morning as this morn,
In which the warmth and cool are blent
In that proportion just, which gives
Health and delight to all that lives.
| In Cornwall and Across the Sea | |