• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

“The Little Wooden Ship” [poem by L. E. Homfray]

27 February 2017 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This poem by L. E. Homfray was published in Australians, Awake! And Other Poems (1915).]

“The Little Wooden Ship.”

It was only a poor and broken toy,
It was but little wooden ship;
But how strangely stirred is the mother’s heart,
And white with sorrow her trembling lip.

For the hands that fashioned that broken toy
Are calmly folded in Death’s last sleep,
And the child who was once his father’s joy
Is far away on the rolling deep.

As she waits alone in her widowed grief
Her thoughts go back to the days of old,
And ever in all her dreaming she sees
Her boy with his curls of shining gold.

As she holds in her hand his broken ship
She thinks of the storms and tempests wild,
The battle fierce, and the cruel foe
Circling the life of her only child.

She prays that He Who in deepest peril
Whispered “Peace!” o’er the troubled night
Will guide him safely, when storms are over,
Into the harbour of endless light.

And so for the sake of her only son
The mother’s heart, so loyal and true,
Is filled with a sympathy deep and wide
For even the humblest boys in blue.

And many a merciful act of love,
Some kindly message or word of cheer,
Is given to many a sailor lad,
With thoughts of the far-off one so dear.

So because of the memories sad and sweet,
For love of the dear, dead days of old,
The mother still treasures that little ship
A a miser hoards his wealth of gold.



Source:
L. E. Homfray, Australians, Awake! And Other Poems, Sydney: D. S. Ford, [1915?], pages 5-6

Editor’s notes:
boys in blue = in a naval context, sailors (in the context of law and order, the phrase refers to police)

deep = the ocean, the sea (as used in the phrase “the deep blue sea”)

He = in a religious context, and capitalized, a reference to God

o’er = over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)

[Editor: “He Who” is capitalized in the original text (a similar capitalization, regarding God, is used in “Hymn for Peace: Give Peace in our Time, O Lord” (in the same publication) with the words “Whose Throne”).]

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Australians Awake! And Other Poems (L. E. Homfray 1915), L. E. Homfray (1873-1951) (author), poem, SourceSLV, year1915

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • [The new stamps] [re the new Tasmanian postage stamps, 2 January 1900]
  • The Leading Lady [poem by “Stargazer”, 31 January 1917]
  • The Naval Contingent: With the Australians in China [17 October 1900]
  • Australia Day [26 January 1953]
  • Australia Day [24 January 1953]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Australian slang
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Bard and the Lizard [poem by John Shaw Neilson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • Robert Buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Laurie on The Geebung Polo Club [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • rob buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Carol on Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Annie Crestani on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in