 | Australian Lyrics &c |  |
A NEW YEAR'S LETTER.
Dear Brother, you can't think how odd it seems to wake to-day,
And find no snow upon the sod, and all the clouds away,
To have no mist upon the moor, no ice on waterholes,
And no poor people at the door waiting for soup and coals.
And find no snow upon the sod, and all the clouds away,
To have no mist upon the moor, no ice on waterholes,
And no poor people at the door waiting for soup and coals.
It really is a blithe new year to have a clear blue sky
Visible through the atmosphere, and the sun summer high,
To have no poverty and pain, no beggars starved with cold,
When the New Year comes round again to overtake the old.
Visible through the atmosphere, and the sun summer high,
To have no poverty and pain, no beggars starved with cold,
When the New Year comes round again to overtake the old.
For all that something seems to catch the smoothness of the gear,
When sights and seasons do not match the old months of the year,
The maytree ought to bloom in May, the roses blow in June,
And leaves begin to fall away when August days are done.
When sights and seasons do not match the old months of the year,
The maytree ought to bloom in May, the roses blow in June,
And leaves begin to fall away when August days are done.
Do you remember, you and I made up our minds one spring,
To go out weekly and descry the time of blossoming,
Of all the common plants which grow in meadow and in wood,
When poppies first begin to glow and brambles are in bud?
To go out weekly and descry the time of blossoming,
Of all the common plants which grow in meadow and in wood,
When poppies first begin to glow and brambles are in bud?
21
It varied the monotony of a straight Roman road,
To scan both hedges with the eye for any bud that showed;
The nettles used to blossom first, the daisies followed soon,
And then a crowd of flowers would burst on ev'ry sunny noon.
To scan both hedges with the eye for any bud that showed;
The nettles used to blossom first, the daisies followed soon,
And then a crowd of flowers would burst on ev'ry sunny noon.
These Romans were a prudent race, till someone interfered,
They put March in its proper place, first in the year not third:
'Twas better for the primroses to open with the year,
And at the old year's obsequies for no flower to appear.
They put March in its proper place, first in the year not third:
'Twas better for the primroses to open with the year,
And at the old year's obsequies for no flower to appear.
It seems an incongruity to have one's summer time,
When the year's in her infancy instead of at her prime,
To have our roses burgeoning when yours have shed their leaves,
And not to enter on our spring till you have bound your sheaves.
When the year's in her infancy instead of at her prime,
To have our roses burgeoning when yours have shed their leaves,
And not to enter on our spring till you have bound your sheaves.
But these are the Antipodes, and therefore one expects
To meet with eccentricities and curious effects,
We shouldn't like things half so well when we reach home again,
If they were as available on this side of the main.
To meet with eccentricities and curious effects,
We shouldn't like things half so well when we reach home again,
If they were as available on this side of the main.
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