[Editor: This poem by Louisa Lawson was published in “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems (1905).]
A Reverie.
Stern duty calls and I, alas!
Must her behest obey,
Must now in strength myself surpass
Nor wavering thought betray.
It is, it must be fate’s decree
That while I sojourn here
To be my lot to turn and flee
From all my heart holds dear.
To shun the thing my soul would prize,
At last within my grasp;
And pass with cold, averted eyes,
The hand I fain would clasp.
Why did I choose this life of pain?
Why do I live it still?
Why drink the dregs, and then again
The cup of sorrow fill?
I do not know, I cannot tell;
Nor why, along the road,
When from my back the burden fell
I took again the load.
I think I love the life of pain
That God has given to me;
For I would live it o’er again,
If such a thing could be.
The sorrows that have come to me
Have taught me how to find
The souls in need of sympathy —
The wrecks among mankind.
Source:
Louisa Lawson, “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems, Sydney: Dawn Office, [1905], pp. 63-64
Editor’s notes:
fain = happily or gladly; ready or willing; obliged or compelled
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
Leave a Reply