Aroona
(Freshford, Somerset)
That lovely old house on the hill:
How grieved I was to lose her;
Sad beyond my telling
These memories welling
In me, as I picture her sunlit appeal
Smiling over the river, road,
Railway and tree-fringed canal;
Symbol past my telling
Of happiness swelling
In me, at Aroona, when she was my ward.
Proud over incline and village,
High above Church, Manor, Grange;
Quite beyond my telling
Those pleasures then welling
Through me, when her qualities were my hopes’ gage.
Gracious lawns and gardens displayed
Flowers and cedar and pine:
Pleasures past my telling;
Now pining thoughts swelling
And spreading, like cedar, their flowerless shade.
Aroona has left my control:
Others enjoy her delights;
Now passed beyond telling
Those past hopes once welling
In me, for that lovely lost home on the hill.
