[Editor: This poem by Barcroft Boake was published in Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems (1897).]
A Wayside Queen
She was born in the season of fire,
When a mantle of murkiness lay
On the front of the crimson Destroyer:
And none knew the name of her sire
But the woman; and she, ashen grey,
In the fierce pangs of motherhood lay.
The skies were aflame at her coming
With a marvellous message of ill;
And fear-stricken pinions were drumming
The hot, heavy air, whence the humming
Of insects rose, sudden and shrill,
As they fled from that hell-begirt hill.
Then the smoke-serpent writhed in her tresses:
The flame kissed her hard on the lips:
She smiled at their ardent caresses
As the wanton who smiles, but represses
A lover’s hot haste, and so slips
From the arm that would girdle her hips.
Such the time of her coming and fashion:
How long ere her day shall be sped,
And she goes to rekindle past passion
With languorous glances that flash on
The long-straightened limbs of the dead,
Where they lie in a winter-wet bed?
Where the wide waves of evergreen carry
The song sad and soft of the surge
To feathered battalions that harry
The wizen-armed bloodwoods that tarry
For ever, chained down on the verge
Of a river that mutters a dirge.
’Tis a dirge for the dead men it mutters —
Those weed-entwined strangers who lie
With the drift in the whirlpools and gutters —
Swoll’n hand or a garment that flutters
Wan shreds as the waters rush by,
And the flotsam, froth-freckled, rides high.
Is it there that she buries her lovers,
This woman in scarlet and black?
Those swart caballeros, the drovers —
What sovranty set they above hers?
Riding in by a drought-beset track
To a fate which is worse than the rack.
A queen, no insignia she weareth
Save the dark, lustrous crown of her hair:
Her beauty the sceptre she beareth:
For men and their miseries careth
As little as tigresses care
For the quivering flesh that they tear.
She is sweet as white peppermint flowers,
And harsh as red gum when it drips
From the heart of a hardwood that towers
Straight up: she hath marvellous powers
To draw a man’s soul through his lips
With a kiss like the stinging of whips.
Warm nights, weighted down with wild laughter,
When sex is unsexed and uncouth:
In the chorus that climbs to the rafter
No thought of the days to come after:
She has little regret and less ruth
As she tempts men to murder their youth.
Is she marked down as yet by the flaming
Great eye of the Righter of Wrong?
How long ere the Dreaded One, claiming
His due, shall make end of our shaming?
‘How long, Mighty Father, how long?’
Is our wearisome burden of song.
Source:
Barcroft Boake, Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems, Sydney (NSW): Angus and Robertson, 1897, pp. 48-51
Also published in:
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 14 May 1892, p. 18, column 2 [Barcroft H. Boake]
The Coolgardie Review (Coolgardie, WA), 10 August 1895, p. 5
Relevant notes from the “Notes to poems” section in this book:
10. A WAYSIDE QUEEN, p. 48. — Posthumously printed in The Bulletin, May 14, 1892. Signed ‘Barcroft H. Boake.’
Editor’s notes:
beareth = bears (carries, conveys, wears)
begirt = encircled, surrounded, wrapped around
caballero = a Spanish gentleman; a cavalier or knight; a lady’s escort; a horseman; a cowboy
careth = (archaic) care
dirge = a song, chant, or music, especially of a mournful nature and slow, used for a funeral, memorial, or commemoration; a lamentation for the dead
Dreaded One = the Devil, Satan
ere = (archaic) before (from the Middle English “er”, itself from the Old English “aer”, meaning early or soon)
flotsam = material or goods floating on the water or washed up on shore, especially the wreckage or cargo of a ship (often used in the phrase “flotsam and jetsam”, jetsam referring to material or cargo jettisoned, cast from, a ship, so as to lighten a load or stabilize the vessel); odds and ends; items, or people, cast aside or rejected, due to being considered useless, unimportant, or worthless; vagrants
girdle = encircle, surround (e.g. to encircle someone’s waist with a belt); enclose, encompass
harry = harrass; torment; raid (especially to repeatedly raid the same place, target, force, or unit); assault, devestate, pillage, plunder, ravage, or lay waste to (especially in the context of warfare)
hath = (archaic) has
languorous = lazy; lacking energy, liveliness, spirit, or vitality
Mighty Father = in a religious context, and capitalized, God
pinion = a bird’s wing; in more specific usage, the outer section of a bird’s wing; in broader usage, “pinions” refers to the wings of a bird (“pinion” can also refer specifically to a feather, especially a flight feather, or a quill)
Righter of Wrong = in a religious context, and capitalized, God
ruth = feelings for someone else of compassion, pity, sorrow (also, sorrow for one’s own faults; contrition, remorse, self-reproach)
sire = father (can also refer to a forefather, i.e. a male ancestor; can also be used as a form of address to someone of high rank, such as a Lord or a King)
sovranty = (archaic) sovereignty
swart = dark in color (as an adjective, “swarthy”)
swoll’n = (vernacular) swollen
tarry = to stay longer than intended
’tis = (archaic) a contraction of “it is”
tresses = hair, especially the long flowing hair of a woman (plural of “tress”: a long lock of hair)
wan = having a sickly or pale appearance; a poorly appearance suggestive of unhappiness or grief; a lack of energy or feeling (e.g. a smile or laugh, displaying little effort, energy, or enthusiasm); lacking good health or vitality (may also refer to something which is dim or faint, e.g. light, stars, sun)
wanton = a lascivious or licentious person (especially used regarding women, as used in the phrase “a wanton woman”, referring to a woman who is sexually immoral, loose, lustful, unchaste, or unrestrained)
weareth = (archaic) wears
Leave a Reply