[Editor: A poem published in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 26 May 1805.]
The Cottager.
When blossoms their beauties disclose to the morn,
And the dew drop descends from the ripening corn;
When the Bell bird to stillness gives sadness and awe,
I rest on my sickle — and turn down the straw.
Now Phoebus advances — how potent his beam!
With my line ’neath a gum tree I tempt the clear stream:
Delightful the task is the treat to prepare
For the sweet little Cherubs whom my toils are to chear!
Mayhap with my gun, and my favorite, Guess,
I traverse the wild with unenvy’d success;
Then skilled in each winding, my home I pursue
Where a ruptuious welcome transports me a-new.
My cottage, tho’ homely, is always kept clean;
My Partner’s attentive — like summer serene:
My sweet smiling prattlers comprise my whole store:
But with health, blest Contentment — could riches add more?
Source:
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (Sydney, NSW), Sunday 26 May 1805, page 3
Editor’s notes:
chear = an archaic spelling of “cheer”
Phoebus = the sun; a reference to Phoebus (also known as Apollo) who, in Greek mythology, was the god of light (amongst other things) and in literature was often identified with the sun
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