Lowan’s Nest [also known as “At a Lowan’s Nest”; poem by John Shaw Neilson]

[Editor: This poem by John Shaw Neilson was published in Heart of Spring (1919) and Ballad and Lyrical Poems (1923). It was also published in Collected Poems of John Shaw Neilson (1934) under the title of “At a Lowan’s Nest”.]

Lowan’s Nest

Here, in the rubble and the sand,
This monument by thee was planned:
Great was the love that in thee hid,
O, builder of the Pyramid!

By no delirious king compelled
But by the mother-heart upheld,
Little of pain or toil thou recked,
Brave builder! eager architect!

This and no other was thy shrine:
This monument to birth was thine:
Great was the love within thee hid,
O, builder of the Pyramid!

Source:
Shaw Neilson, Heart of Spring, Sydney: The Bookfellow, 1919, page 21

Also published in:
John Shaw Neilson, Ballad and Lyrical Poems, Sydney: The Bookfellow in Australia, 1923, page 18
John Shaw Neilson (edited by R. H. Croll), Collected Poems of John Shaw Neilson, Melbourne: Lothian Book Publishing Company, 1934, page 21 [under the title of “At a Lowan’s Nest”]

Editor’s notes:
recked = past tense of “reck”, to have a care or pay heed to something

thee = (archaic) you

thine = (archaic) yours; your (“thine”, meaning “your”, is usually placed before a word which begins with a vowel, e.g. “To thine own self be true”)

thou = (archaic) you

thy = (archaic) your