Just as the grey dawning could faintly be seen,
One still summer's morning I dreamt a fair dream,
I thought that my body was tenantless clay,
And friends were preparing to lay it away,
They stood at my bedside, one weeping aloud,
While two with deft finger's placed on me a shroud,
And she who had loved me and knew all my care,
Placed flowers about me and braided my hair.
And murmured, "poor creature, her troubles are o'er,
And they who have vexed her can vex her no more,"
Then tenderly crossing my hands on my breast,
She kissed me and blessed me, and left me to rest,
The kindest words only about me were said
And restfully thought I, 'tis well to be dead.
I sighed with contentment, so safe did I seem,
But alas for the sigh, for it banished my dream.
First published in The Dawn, 1 September 1891;
and later in
The Lonely Crossing and Other Poems by Louisa Lawson, 1905;
The Poet's Discovery: Nineteenth Century Australia in Verse edited by Richard Douglas Jordan and Peter Pierce, 1990;
The First Voice of Australian Feminism: Excerpts from Louisa Lawson's The Dawn 1888-1895 edited by Olive Lawson, 1990; and
Louisa Lawson: Collected Poems with Selected Critical Commentaries edited by L.M. Rutherford, M.E. Roughley and Nigel Spence, 1996.
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
One still summer's morning I dreamt a fair dream,
I thought that my body was tenantless clay,
And friends were preparing to lay it away,
They stood at my bedside, one weeping aloud,
While two with deft finger's placed on me a shroud,
And she who had loved me and knew all my care,
Placed flowers about me and braided my hair.
And murmured, "poor creature, her troubles are o'er,
And they who have vexed her can vex her no more,"
Then tenderly crossing my hands on my breast,
She kissed me and blessed me, and left me to rest,
The kindest words only about me were said
And restfully thought I, 'tis well to be dead.
I sighed with contentment, so safe did I seem,
But alas for the sigh, for it banished my dream.
First published in The Dawn, 1 September 1891;
and later in
The Lonely Crossing and Other Poems by Louisa Lawson, 1905;
The Poet's Discovery: Nineteenth Century Australia in Verse edited by Richard Douglas Jordan and Peter Pierce, 1990;
The First Voice of Australian Feminism: Excerpts from Louisa Lawson's The Dawn 1888-1895 edited by Olive Lawson, 1990; and
Louisa Lawson: Collected Poems with Selected Critical Commentaries edited by L.M. Rutherford, M.E. Roughley and Nigel Spence, 1996.
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
