[Editor: This poem by Joseph Furphy was published in The Poems of Joseph Furphy (1916).]
Lines for Lizer-Jane’s Album.
(Miss Drewitt.)
No two leaves that wave in Arden,
No two grass blades on the plain,
No two flowers that gem the garden,
Show as twins in form or vein,
No two grains of desert sand
Counterpart leave Nature’s hand.
So the all resourceful mother
Forms her children each unique
Meet to supplement each other
In the purpose all should seek
Thus her aim deciphered shows
None must copy, none may pose —
Hence no trodden path can guide thee;
Thou art duplicate of none;
Untried issues shall betide thee;
Options new beneath the sun
And thou can’st not copy well
Failing perfect parallel —
Let thy course be independent
Steered by three bright stars above,
Ever shining soft, resplendent
Boding Faith and Hope and Love,
These shall guide thee to thy best,
Like the wise men’s beacon blest.
Source:
K. B. [Kate Baker] (editor), The Poems of Joseph Furphy, Melbourne: Lothian Book Publishing Co., 1916, page 36
Editor’s notes:
Arden = the Forest of Arden (a major forest in England, which no longer exists, although some woods belonging to it still remain; it is the central location of the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare); may also refer to a district in Warwickshire, England, which forms part of the area once occupied by the Forest of Arden
wise men’s beacon = the star which, according to the Bible, several wise men followed to reach the young Jesus Christ
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