The colours of the setting sun
Withdrew across the Western land —
He raised the sliprails, one by one,
And shot them home with trembling hand;
Her brown hands clung — her face grew pale —
Ah! quivering chin and eyes that brim! —
One quick, fierce kiss across the rail,
And, “Good-bye, Mary!” “Good-bye, Jim!”
~Oh, he rides hard to race the pain
Who rides from love, who rides from home;
But he rides slowly home again,
Whose heart has learnt to love and roam.~
A hand upon the horse’s mane,
And one foot in the stirrup set,
And, stooping back to kiss again,
With “Good-bye, Mary! don’t you fret!
When I come back” — he laughed for her —
“We do not know how soon ’twill be;
I’ll whistle as I round the spur —
You let the sliprails down for me.”
She gasped for sudden loss of hope,
As, with a backward wave to her,
He cantered down the grassy slope
And swiftly round the dark’ning spur.
Black-pencilled panels standing high,
And darkness fading into stars,
And blurring fast against the sky,
A faint white form beside the bars.
And often at the set of sun,
In winter bleak and summer brown,
She’d steal across the little run,
And shyly let the sliprails down.
And listen there when darkness shut
The nearer spur in silence deep;
And when they called her from the hut
Steal home and cry herself to sleep.
~And he rides hard to dull the pain
Who rides from one that loves him best;
And he rides never back again,
Whose restless heart must rove for rest.~
Henry Lawson
This is “Sticky” an abandonded grey tabby who was wrapped in duct tape and dumped in North Philadelphia this week. Sometimes people really piss me off. Evidently the vet was able to remove the duct tape, and she’s doing well, and up for adoption. I hope she finds a better home that she originally had. The story is
Tamias minimus. The eastern chipmunk. Rather a pretty beast, what with the red side, the black and white stripes, the button eyes. They must be plentiful. Murphy brought me one to play with yesterday. When I didn’t, he looked at me distainfully and then ate the head. Tinker also brought one home, but his was alive, to save for later. In the dining room. Of course. Where else would you keep the small rodents?
William The Coroner's Forensic Files 