THE NE'ER-DO-WEEL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 104, 5 February 1870, Page 7

THE NE'ER-DO-WEEL.

Shattered, haggard, and worn, Loathsome the wreck, forlorn, Matted the thatch, and torn Heaven's own web of light; Spectre-glimpse of the past, The soul's own sky o'ercast, The inner world aghast, — All, dreary night! Empty pockets and lap, Ragged and bare the hap, Tati«r wedded to scrap, I The screed divorcing wide. Scrajgy the face once fair, Blisttr, pimple, and tear ; Passions still lurking there, 'Neata ebbing tide. Brolsjen arches that clap, Darkness sits in the gap, Disease crops thro' the slap — i Mangled, jaggy, and raw ; Throbbing the eye and dim, Swollen and stiff the limb, Earth with hevjoys, how grim— < Life's cross-cut saw. Sadness, sorrow, and woe, The •weary wanderer low, Within memories glow, Shoaling o'er wreck and rook. Picture-lights on the wall Childhood's dear days recall; Light up the mournful pall — To mock ! to mock ! Barren the bowers of old, Summer, sunless, and cold, Far away from the fold Of the happy and blest; Startles and wreathes in fear, Wrapped in the future drear, Eyes too dry for a tear To ease the breast. Hunger and want —the thong Whips the lean flesh along •, Hark ! with terrible tongue Knells the Ne'er-do-Weel's end. On the miry ground, damp, Floor of the drunkard's swamp ; Fickle ! now black" the lampWithout a friend!