English Tides

Born in England, I came to Australia when I was 13.

I’m trapped within my past of English days,

Of English sights and sounds, and English ways,

For though some stranger took me at the flood

I still feel drums of England in my blood.

 

And though these eighteen years have seen the swell

Of foreign ports and strands command my spell,

Within these veins run many a peasant stream

Of English woods, of English tides and dreams.

 

David Lewis Paget

 

1976