Love in a Cottage [poem by Daniel Deniehy, 1909 (first published 1847)]

[Editor: A poem by Daniel Deniehy.]

Love in a Cottage

A cottage small be mine, with porch
Enwreathed with ivy green,
And brightsome flowers with dew-filled bells,
’Mid brown old wattles seen.

And one to wait at shut of eve,
With eyes as fountain clear.
And braided hair, and simple dress,
My homeward step to hear.

On summer eves to sing old songs,
And talk o’er early vows.
While stars look down like angels’ eyes
Amid the leafy boughs.

When Spring flowers peep from flossy cells.
And bright-winged parrots call,
In forest paths be ours to rove
Till purple evenings fall.

The curtains closed, by taper clear
To read some page divine,
On winter nights, the hearth beside,
Her soft, warm hand in mine.

And so to guide through busy life,
Like some small brook alone,
That winds its way ’mid grassy knolls,
Its music all its own.

Source:
Bertram Stevens (editor), The Golden Treasury of Australian Verse, London: Macmillan and Co., 1909, pages 4-5

Editor’s notes:
Bertram Stevens give his source (in the Contents, page vii) as “Heads of the People (Sydney, 1847)”. Heads of the People: An Illustrated Journal of Literature, Whims and Oddities was published weekly in Sydney 1847-1848 by William Baker.