[Editor: This poem by Marie E. J. Pitt was published in The Horses of the Hills and Other Verses (1911).]
The Old Love.
O Melbourne Town’s a lady,
And her eyes are like the stars
Shining white thro’ heaven’s bars,
But I drift in dreams again
To the lights of Hobart Harbour,
Laughing lights of Hobart Harbour,
From the head of The Domain.
There are years o’ days between us,
There’s a ghost for every hour
That the laggard leagues devour;
But the heart o’ me grows fain
For the lights of Hobart Harbour,
Lilting lights of Hobart Harbour,
From the head of The Domain.
O’er the grim sea-walled horizon
Old Ben Lomond watches yet
O’er the graves of old regret,
While I yearn in vain, in vain
For the lights of Hobart Harbour,
Laughing lights of Hobart Harbour,
From the head of The Domain.
Yes! Melbourne Town’s a lady,
And the breath of her is wine;
But for this old love o’ mine
Wakes the song of heart and brain —
O the lights of Hobart Harbour!
Lilting lights of Hobart Harbour,
From the head of The Domain.
Source:
Marie E. J. Pitt, The Horses of the Hills and Other Verses, Melbourne: Specialty Press, 1911, pages 25-26
Editor’s notes:
fain = happily or gladly; ready or willing; obliged or compelled
This is the works of my great grandmother, how proud I am to be
My poetry stems from this side of her blood
Her courage and strengths of character still lives on in me,
This treasured gift brings me pleasure as water is to flood