[Editor: This poem by “R.G.S.” — a pseudonym of John Neilson (1844-1922) — was published in The Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA), 26 July 1879.]
Sunbeams.
Sunbeams failing on the streamlets,
And the drowsy dreamy woodlands;
Sunbeams on the wide lone ocean,
And the sea-sand lone and bare;
Sunbeams in the misty cloudland,
And upon the rocky headland;
Sunbeams o’er the desert shedding
Light and glory everywhere.
Sunlight hand in hand with morning,
O’er the eastern hills advancing;
Lo! they come with footsteps dancing
Through the purple gates ajar;
’Neath the purple arch of morning,
Treading on the heels of darkness;
Chasing night, with all its shadows,
Westward ’neath the waning stars.
Sunbeams sweet the wide earth girdling,
With the yellow rippling sunlight;
Dancing on the cottage doorstep,
And the rugged mountain boar;
Shining in the halls of grandeur,
Climbing on the lonely mountain,
Playing with the silver fountain,
Shining on the brown sea shore.
Sunbeams, beaming in where childhood
Stretches forth its baby fingers
Seeking for to grasp the sunbeams
Sleeping on the cottage floor;
Following them with tottering footsteps —
Little footsteps tottering onward —
On the thorny paths that lead us
To the land of nevermore.
Sunbeams on the bridal morning —
Sunbeams bright with happy omen;
Where the bridal bells are ringing,
In the mid-heaven, clear and high.
Sunbeams round this darken’d chamber,
Where the mourners bear the loved one
To the darn and silent dwelling
Where the sunbeams never lie.
Thus the sunbeams fall and gather,
Breaking in through life’s dark vapours;
Spreading life and light and gladness,
By the land and by the sea;
Like the smile of Heaven us glad’ning —
Thus they fall; the time fore-shadowing
When the soul shall know no saddening,
In a bright eternity!
R.G.S.
Penola.
Source:
The Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA), 26 July 1879, p. 4
Editor’s notes:
darken’d = (vernacular) darkened
girdle = encircle, surround (e.g. to encircle someone’s waist with a belt); enclose, encompass
girdling = to girdle [see: girdle]
glad’ning = (vernacular) gladdening
’neath = (vernacular) beneath
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
wane = decrease gradually in intensity, number, size, strength, or volume (e.g. “the moonlight waxed and waned”); to lose power or significance (e.g. “on the wane”); to come to a close, approach the end
waning = to wane [see: wane]
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