[Editor: A poem by Philip Durham Lorimer. Published in The Euroa Advertiser, 3 August 1894.]
A Hearty “Shake Hands”
I know there is naught more delightful in hours.
Than the shake of a hand from a friend,
It covers my heart with the bloom of life’s flowers
That I love and can ever defend.
It touches a spring, and a key-note is heard
As it breaks o’er the sun of my day ;
For the kindly clasp is the heart-uttered word
That the lips are unable to say.
It matters not much if our minds cannot be
For a time on a level with each ;
If in the ways of life all cannot agree,
Through the walls that are barring our reach ;
So long as we hold in a steady, straight way
To true purpose of heart and desire,
And yield the right hand of our greatness to-day,
That has none of an enemy’s ire.
Oh, man ! know thyself in a balance that weighs
Ev’ry trait of the false and the true,
For the ground-work shows how a tree oft decays,
Though a blight ne’er was known where it grew.
Then take from thy heart a bright ray of thy soul
In thy hand, as thy pulses obey,
Be led by its warmth, striking out for its goal,
For the clasp that is offered to-day.
— Philip D. Lorimer.
Source:
The Euroa Advertiser (Euroa, Vic.), Friday 3 August 1894, page 3
Also published in:
The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser, (Heathcote, Vic.), Friday 28 September 1894, page 2
Editor’s notes:
The poem as published in The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser, 28 September 1894, differs in the line “Ev’ry trait of the false and the true”, which it gives as “Every trial of the false and the true”.
[Editor: Corrected “frend” to “friend”.]
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