[Editor: A poem by Clarinda Sarah Thom (Menie Parkes), regarding the death of her mother, Lady Clarinda Parkes, who died at her home in Balmain (NSW) on 2 February 1888. Published in The Australian Town and Country Journal, 11 February 1888.]
In Memoriam.
Lady Parkes.
Died February 2.
The starry jasmine, which did wreath
About a stately oak;
Whose tender sweetness all might breathe —
Hands of angels broke
Its hold yestreen. The wealth of bloom
Lies scatter’d in the evening gloom,
Because the Master spoke.
Thou jasmine of a woman! Thou,
Who like a flower didst keep
Through all the tempest, wrack, and woe
Of life, we may not weep
That one so sweet is torn away;
We can but smile thee off; and say
Thine own last words, “Yes, sleep!”
Yes, sleep, dear one! Thine aged heart
Has done its earthly all
Of tender ministry of love. Its part,
For us, is o’er. Let fall
Death’s curtain, till the glowing morn
Of safe and glad arrival dawn,
In Heaven’s high hall.
C. S. Thom.
Five Dock, Sydney, February 3, 1888.
Source:
The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 11 February 1888, p. 289
Editor’s notes:
yestreen = yesterday evening (primarily used in Scotland and the north of England)
Reference:
“Death of Lady Parkes”, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Sydney, NSW), 3 February 1888, p. 5
The Institute of Australian Culture
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