Erehwon

One side of the dividing range
In densest bush a track remains
Erehwon in ironbark burnt
Surely lessons to be learnt

Opulent those first gay dreams
Elevated thence to schemes
Of paradise and childhood flights
Of fantasy now laid to rights

Below the crest above the plain
Home site marks each passing day
Where once gay carillons played
A wooden shutter hangs astray

Wild the rose untended grows
Straggling blooms seem to pose
Questions without answers here
How quickly gardens disappear

Broken door just lies askew
Never showing what it knew
Of elegance in glories past
Twisted there upon its hasp

Tread carefully you cannot trust
Sagging floors of termites dust
Naked bearers of the roof
Permitting light to arrow through

Once it was well used with love
Rusty now the old wood stove
Such memories it must hold
Shall forever stay untold

Early morning ‘fore the sun
Breakfast was already done
Men would go the corn to sheave
Can this empty husk now grieve

Damp the rot with windows gone
No echo of a child’s bright song
As Erehwon it lives its name
‘til finally no trace remains

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