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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
REEDY RIVER, by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON Poet's Biography First Line: Ten miles down reedy river Last Line: Above my mary's grave. | |||
Ten miles down Reedy River A pool of water lies, And all the year it mirrors The changes in the skies. Within that pool's broad bosom Is room for all the stars; Its bed of sand has drifted O'er countless rocky bars. Around the lower edges There waves a bed of reeds, Where water-rats are hidden And where the wild-duck breeds; And glassy slopes rise gently To ridges long and low, Where the groves of wattle flourish And native bluebells grow. Beneath the granite ridges The eye may discern Where Rocky Creek emerges From deep green banks of fern; And standing tall between them, The drooping she-oaks cool The hard, blue-tinted waters Before they reach the pool. Ten miles down Reedy River One Sunday afternoon, I rode with Mary Campbell To that broad, bright lagoon; We left our horses grazing Till shadows climbed the peak, And strolled beneath the she-oaks On the banks of Rocky Creek. Then home along the river That night we rode a race, And the moonlight lent a glory To Mary Campbell's face; I pleaded for my future All through that moonlight ride, Until our weary horses Drew closer side by side. Ten miles from Ryan's Crossing And five below the peak, I built a little homestead On the banks of Rocky Creek; I cleared the land and fenced it And ploughed the rich red loan; And my first crop was golden When I brought Mary home. Now still down Reedy River The grassy she-oaks sigh; The waterholes still mirror The pictures in the sky; The golden sand is drifting Across the rocky bars; And over all for ever Go sun and moon and stars. But of the hut I builded There are no traces now, And many rains have levelled The furrows of my plough. The glad bright days have vanished; For sombre branches wave Their wattle-blossom golden Above my Mary's grave. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BALLAD OF THE DROVER by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON PAROO RIVER by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON TALBRAGAR by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON THE BOSS'S BOOTS by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON THE LIGHTS OF COBB AND CO. by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON THE SHEARER'S DREAM by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON THE SLIPRAILS AND THE SPUR by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON THE SQUATTER, THREE CORNSTALKS, AND THE WELL by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON SPRING DAY: NIGHT AND SLEEP by AMY LOWELL THE LAST WORD by MATTHEW ARNOLD |
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