"The Old Man peered up the darkening track"? Any info please.

[Rugby]

My 90 year old Mother learned this poem at school, and although She can still recite a lot of it, She misses bits and does not know the Auther.

It is about a Son that takes "that reckless filly" for a ride, and He was "only going to the sliprails, he ought to be home by this". He is found dead in the ranges at the foot of an ironbark tree.

Thanks for any help.

Regards
Rugby.

[Peely]

G'day Rugby

The poem that you are looking for is called "Lost" and it is by Banjo Paterson. There is a copy of the poem on the main site, the link is as below:

http://www.bushverse.com/paterson/lost.htm

It is a poem that I perform myself and that is how I was able to recognise it from your description.

Regards


John Peel

[Rugby]

Peely

Hello John, thanks for the prompt reply, My Mother will appreciate the printout.

Perchance would you know the source of another of Mum's recitations of long ago along the lines of......"O call my Brother back to me, I cannot play alone".

Regards
Rugby.

[Peely]

G'day Rugby,

While not familiar with the lines of the poem that you have quoted, a quick search on google returned the following:

The Child’s First Grief
By Felicia Dorothea Hemans

“O call my Brother back to me,
I cannot play alone;
The summer comes with flower and bee –
Where is my brother gone?

The butterfly is glancing bright
Across the sun-beams track;
I care not now to chase its flight –
O call my brother back!

The flowers run wild – the flower we sowed
Around our garden tree;
Our vine is drooping with its load –
O call him back to me!”

“He would not hear my voice fair child!
He may not come to thee;
The face that once, like spring-time smiled,
On earth no more thou’ll see.

A rose’s brief bright life of joy,
Such unto him was given:-
Go, thou must play alone my boy!
Thy brother is in heaven.”

“And has he left his birds and flowers?
And must I call in vain?
And through the long, long summer hours,
Will he not come again?

And by the brook and in the glade,
Are all our wanderings o’er?
Oh! while my brother with me played,
Would I had loved him more!”

I hope this is of assistance.

Regards


John Peel

[Rugby]

Hello John
Thank you once again.
I had Googled Hemans some time ago for looking for another of Her Poems, but obviously My Googling skills require updating.

Regards