[Editor: This poem by “R.G.S.” — a pseudonym of John Neilson (1844-1922) — was published in The Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA), 16 October 1878.]
When the Almond Sheds its Blossoms.
Ere the grass begins to wither,
Ere the sun-bleached fields grow white,
When the winds are soft and balmy,
And the skies are blue and bright;
When the pleasant days of springtime
Are lengthening as they go,
Then the almond sheds its blossoms
Like a shower of falling snow.
They are sailing on the sunbeams,
They perfume the air around —
Floating like the flossy blossoms
Of the thistle-down;
Drifting downward like the hopes
We cherished long ago —
That perished like the blossoms,
That lie white as fallen snow.
To the knight that’s fought their battle —
To the bard that’s sung their lays —
A marble pile with sculptured style
Doth a grateful people raise;
But ’twere sweeter to rest yonder
Where the shadows come and go,
And the almond sheds its blossoms
Like a shower of falling snow.
Let us not forget the lesson
That the falling blossoms bring,
For rugged winter follows
On the dancing steps of spring,
And the time is coming when we all
Must quit our hold and go,
As the almond sheds its blossoms,
Like a shower of falling snow.
R.G.S.
Penola.
Source:
The Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA), 16 October 1878, p. 6
Editor’s notes:
doth = (archaic) does
ere = (archaic) before (from the Middle English “er”, itself from the Old English “aer”, meaning early or soon)
lay = song, tune; ballad (may also refer to ballads or narrative poems, as sung by medieval minstrels or bards)
’twere = (archaic) a contraction of “it were”
[Editor: Changed “prefume” to “perfume”; “Must must quit” to “Must quit”.]
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