Bread and Circuses

Chapter 75: XIV

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About This Book

A lyrical collection of short poems ranges from quiet country scenes and childhood memories to urban sketches and religious reflections. The poet renders streams, gardens, market sellers, and domestic interiors in close sensory detail while pairing everyday observation with moral and spiritual meditation. Animal vignettes and playful pieces for children sit alongside elegies, prayers, and ironic portraits of modern life, producing tones of humour, tenderness, and solemnity. Varied forms and concise portraits move between pastoral lanes, London streets, and intimate household moments while attending to time, sorrow, and faith.

XIV

So back to Endless Street and once again Our Jocko slumbers close to Betsey-Jane, Clutched in her little fingers’ rosy snare, Among the sleepy tangles of her hair, Seen dimly through her cot’s surrounding rail. And here are morals tied to Jocko’s Tale:— “Though hurt your feelings never try to roam For there are many places worse than home.” And yet another,—“Never slight or spurn A good old friend, they say a worm will turn; And such-like stories end in deeper pain Than that of Jocko and his Betsey-Jane.”