From Dawn To Dusk Poem by Gert Strydom

(after Adam Lindsay Gordon)

Dawn

At first light slowly fades the night
on a sky a darker hue of blue,
a few motionless clouds are white,
the direction of Southern-Cross is true.

With twilight the sky remains starlit,
the sheen of white clouds is gold,
while in the East the sun rises scarlet
and the beauty of the morning is manifold.

The morning-glories string and cover
the great old sprawling oak tree,
intertwined like a lover with a lover
and do unfold as if the sun they see.

.......

The soil under a scorching sun harden
as merciless it bakes down till dawn,
yet the buds of the roses open in the garden
and like a welcoming park is the green lawn.

I remember your joy at the blooming red roses,
how you planted day-lilies from cuttings,
in the tranquillity that the garden reposes
saw the wonder of a million small things

but now like Abelard and Heloise I know the anguish
that love does sometimes to romantics bring,
while it seems as if life from me languish,
while all around me birds twitter and sing,

where you do bring me the greatest pain
by putting our marriage on hold
and I do not know when I will see you again,
in life I feel more than a thousand years old.

Your own garden is full off flowers I offered you,
they are lovely and for a queen fit
as living tokens that my love is true,
where never from me you did ask it.

These rhymes and rhythms I pray for to last,
also that your garden will not perish,
where I pray you into my present future and past,
while I still at heart do you with love cherish.

.......

DUSK

In the fading light the primrose is a delight
with its delicate stems and flowers in pink
while a huge white moon shines bright
and of evenings together I do think,

as freesia evening-flowers open in the dusk,
the sun in crimson departs in the twilight,
the breeze smells of jasmine and musk
and the evening-star shines as day turns to night.

[Reference: 'From dawn to dusk' by Adam Lindsay Gordon.
Poet's note: I am quoting this remarkable poem of Adam Lindsay Gordon as I think that it is not well-know to most people.


"From Dawn to Dusk" by Adam Lindsay Gordon

"DAWN"

"On skies still and starlit
White lustres take hold,
And grey flushes scarlet,
And red flashes gold."

"And sun-glories cover
The rose, shed above her,
Like lover and lover
They flame and unfold."

.......

"Still bloom in the garden
Green grass-plot, fresh lawn,
Though pasture lands harden
And drought fissures yawn.
While leaves not a few fall,
Let rose-leaves for you fall
Leaves pearl-strung with dew-fall,
And gold shot with dawn."

"Does the grass-plot remember
The fall of your feet
In Autumn's red ember
When drought leagues with heat,
When the last of the roses
Despairingly closes
In the lull that reposes
Ere storm winds wax fleet? "

"Love's melodies languish
In 'Chastelard's' strain,
And 'Abelard's' anguish
Is love's pleasant pain!
And 'Sappho' rehearses
Love's blessings and curses
In passionate verses
Again and again."

"And I! -I have heard of
All these long ago,
Yet never one word of
Their song-lore I know;
Not under my finger
In songs of the singer
Love's litanies linger,
Love's rhapsodies flow."

"Fresh flowers in a basket-
An offering to you-
Though you did not ask it,
Unbidden I strew;
With heat and drought striving
Some blossoms still living
May render thanksgiving
For dawn and for dew."

"The garlands I gather,
The rhymes I string fast,
Are hurriedly rather
Then heedlessly cast.
Yon tree's shady awning
Is short'ning, and warning,
Far spent is the morning,
And I must ride fast."

"Songs empty, yet airy,
I've striven to write,
For failure, dear Mary!
Forgive me-"Good-night!
Songs and flowers may beset you,
I can only regret you,
While the soil where I met you
Recedes from my sight."

"For the sake of past hours,
For the love of old times,
Take 'A Basket of Flowers, '
And a bundle of rhymes;
Though all the bloom perish
E'en your hand can cherish,
While churlish and bearish
The verse-jingle chimes."

"And Eastward by Nor'ward
Looms sadly my track,
And I must ride forward,
And still I look back, -
Look back-Ah, how vainly!
For while I see plainly,
My hands on the reins lie
Uncertain and slack."

"The warm wind breathes strong breath,
The dust dims mine eye,
And I draw one long breath,
And stifle one sigh.
Green slopes softly shaded,
Have flitted and faded-
My dreams flit as they did-
Good-night-and-Good-bye! "

.......

"DUSK"

"Lost rose! end my story!
Dead core and dry husk-"
Departed thy glory
And tainted thy musk.
Night spreads her dark limbs on
The face of the dim sun,
So flame fades to crimson
And crimson to dusk."
© Gert Strydom