[Editor: This poem by William Blocksidge (also known as William Baylebridge) was published in Songs o’ the South (1908).]
Reunion
Hope teaches Pleasure to anticipate
When wanderers beloved woo homing winds;
And Fancy wings to meet them when she finds
Their frail barks on the nearing billows wait.
Soon disappears dun separation’s date;
And thankful Joy the cares of distance binds,
And throws them from the cupboards of our minds,
Where, much enlarged, mayhap, they ruled of late.
Now springs of love, new-tempered, burst their bonds,
Till glad tears well up through the joy-filled eyes;
While busy vision gauges time’s disguise,
And marks where new to old still corresponds.
’Twould seem more dear we count these vagabonds
As less the constancy of home they prize.
Source:
William Blocksidge, Songs o’ the South, London: Watts, 1908, p. 50
Editor’s notes:
bark = (also spelt “barque”) a small sailing ship in general, or specifically a sailing ship with three (or more) masts, in which the aftmost mast is fore-and-aft rigged, whilst the other masts are square-rigged
dun = dark, dusky; dull; gloomy (may also refer to a greyish-brown or sandy-grey colour, especially regarding the coat of a horse; may also refer to a horse of such colour)
mayhap = (archaic) perhaps; perchance; possibly
’twould = (vernacular) a contraction of “it would”
wing = fly; the act of flying; to travel in an aeroplane
Leave a Reply