ANTICIPATION

 

ANTICIPATION- A Poem

By G.S.O. 

DISTANCE (so the bard has shown us) 
Lends enchantment to the view; 

And what seems a splendid bonus, 

Sometimes is not worth a sou,

Sunny peaks prove drear and icy 

When we've scaled the rocky stair; 

Yonder isle, so green and spicy, 

Is as fatal as it's fair.

In our thoughts we may be greeting 

Friends we here shall see no more; 

As we dream their souls are flecting 

Upward, to a brighter shore.   

While his body is abiding 

In the prison-house of school 

In his spirit Jack is sliding 

On the jolly Christmas pool. 

Long before the half is over, 

Long ere May has drest the land, 

Ned is on the beach at Dover, 

Digging sluices in the sand. 

Ere the jam and flour are blended 

By his mother's loving art, 

Jones has eaten, and commended 

All his cake and currant tart! 

Meanwhile father Jones is building 

Airy castles and renown- 

Laying on the paint and gilding- 

How he will astonish Brown! 

Mary, by the fireside stitching, 

Walks the summer lanes with Phil; 

Or at church, a bride bewitching, 

Plights* her troth for good and ill. 

Rover, like his lord is gifted- 

He can eat his dinner twice; 

When it hangs on high uplifted, 

Looking oh so very nice. 

And when- mutton, beef, or bacon- 

(As his doggish tastes may run,) 

In his mouth capacious taken, 

Proves a sorry scrap of bun. 

As you eye old Rover dining 

Off the little bits that fall, 

Sweetly-tempered, unrepining, 

Be contented one and all. 

*Gives. 

References:

Chatterbox 1877