A heavy landscape clouds my weary eyes.
The fog lies low and hides those pretty flowers.
The London cab is almost red and vanished
The traffic slows, while sleet has walkers punished.
Wealth eludes. So driven, I’ve found new sights.
I dream. I struggle. Distance calls. I fight
Within myself a battle. Shall I go
And leave my loved one lost and grieving so?
Will she wait for me, that bubbly lass
Whom my heart longs to hold in soft embrace?
Will she upon our romance shut the door?
Or when my fortune’s made in the lands afar,
Will she then come to share my rising star?
Will sweetest heart remain my faithful friend?
I fear the question curdles like a fiend.
The ocean barque awaits and I must board
In just three weeks. I heartily adored
Her flouncing curls of bronze, her laughing eyes,
And heart-shaped, pouting lips and turned-up nose.
Yet go I must, for fortune calls my name.
“Dear Barbara, will you faithfully remain
In England’s arms until I send for you
From lands downunder. I must say adieu.
I bought some land and go to build a house,
And graze some cattle, new life to espouse.
When all is done I’ll pay your passage out
And wait for you to come in style. I’ll shout
And tell the world that you are mine alone,
You’ll have such finery. I’ll see it done.”
“I will not wait,” it broke my heart to hear.
She paused and, teasing, cast her eyes down drear,
Then lifted up her head and tossed her curls,
And planting both her lips upon my own,
“I’ll come WITH you when your ship’s flag unfurls”
She cried. With that the deed was quickly done.
The captain married us upon the seas,
Our life began amidst the high sea’s breeze.
Jan 1, 2014
Jan 1, 2014 at 7:16 PM UTC
A heavy landscape clouds my weary eyes.
The fog lies low and hides those pretty flowers.
The London cab is almost red and vanished
The traffic slows, while sleet has walkers punished.
Wealth eludes. So driven, I’ve found new sights.
I dream. I struggle. Distance calls. I fight
Within myself a battle. Shall I go
And leave my loved one lost and grieving so?
Will she wait for me, that bubbly lass
Whom my heart longs to hold in soft embrace?
Will she upon our romance shut the door?
Or when my fortune’s made in the lands afar,
Will she then come to share my rising star?
Will sweetest heart remain my faithful friend?
I fear the question curdles like a fiend.
The ocean barque awaits and I must board
In just three weeks. I heartily adored
Her flouncing curls of bronze, her laughing eyes,
And heart-shaped, pouting lips and turned-up nose.
Yet go I must, for fortune calls my name.
“Dear Barbara, will you faithfully remain
In England’s arms until I send for you
From lands downunder. I must say adieu.
I bought some land and go to build a house,
And graze some cattle, new life to espouse.
When all is done I’ll pay your passage out
And wait for you to come in style. I’ll shout
And tell the world that you are mine alone,
You’ll have such finery. I’ll see it done.”
“I will not wait,” it broke my heart to hear.
She paused and, teasing, cast her eyes down drear,
Then lifted up her head and tossed her curls,
And planting both her lips upon my own,
“I’ll come WITH you when your ship’s flag unfurls”
She cried. With that the deed was quickly done.
The captain married us upon the seas,
Our life began amidst the high sea’s breeze.
Written at the request of a sailing friend whose love is for the great sailing ships of the old times . He gave me the title and the first verse of Gray's Elegy to begin it, but having written it I had to re-write the first verse as it was 'stolen'. I tried to re-capture a similar theme for the first verse.