LAURENCE RABY. Laurence: I said to young Allan M'Ilveray, Beside the swift swirls of the North, When, in lilac shot through with a silver ray, We haul'd the strong salmon fish forth -- Said only, "He gave us some trouble To land him, and what does he weigh? Our friend has caught one that weighs double, The game for the candle won't pay Us to-day, We may tie up our rods and away." I said to old Norman M'Gregor, Three leagues to the west of Glen Dhu -- I had drawn, with a touch of the trigger, The best BEAD that ever I drew -- Said merely, "For birds in the stubble I once had an eye -- I could swear He's down -- but he's not worth the trouble Of seeking. You once shot a bear In his lair -- 'Tis only a buck that lies there." I said to Lord Charles only last year, The time that we topp'd the oak rail Between Wharton's plough and Whynne's pasture, And clear'd the big brook in Blakesvale -- We only -- at Warburton's double He fell, then I finish'd the run And kill'd clean -- said, "So bursts a bubble That shone half an hour in the sun -- What is won? Your sire clear'd and captured a gun." I said to myself, in true sorrow, I said yestere'en, "A fair prize Is won, and it may be to-morrow 'Twill not seem so fair in thine eyes -- Real life is a race through sore trouble, That gains not an inch on the goal, And bliss an intangible bubble That cheats an uns West of Ireland. A Bedchamber. LAURENCE RABY and MELCHIOR. Night. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GARDEN DAYS: 7. THE GARDENER by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON IF THE POETS HAD FEARED THE ADVERTISERS by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS SONG: 6 by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 27. ENGLAND by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) BABYLONIAN LYRIC by GORDON BOTTOMLEY SAD! SAD! by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN COTTAGE GARDEN PRAYER by PATRICK REGINALD CHALMERS |