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A Letter

I am here in Wensleydale
Waiting fur a letter,
Thoo is half t' world away,
(Folk think it is better)
I can hear t' mavis* sing
Sweetly at neetfall,
Out on leagues of watter, thoo
Can hear sea-gulls call!
I can see t' Hunter rise,
An' thoo, t' Southern Cross,
Whya, Lad, a different gain
An’ a different loss!

Notes

mavis ..... Old name for a blackbird.

Taken from "Dale Courtin' " By Dorothy Una Ratcliffe
Published by John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd, London 1931
Page 21

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Comments


  • I-Like-Rhymes Moderators member
    February 6

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    For a poem, possibly, linked to this one try reading Thoo by the same author.
    http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/113400-Dorothy-Una-Ratcliffe-Thoo


  • rufina caraid Moderators member
    February 5
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    I feel this could refer to a letter from a soldier boyfriend either WW1 or WW2. She now hears the blackbird sing, the sea-gulls and the stars are not lost on her which she sees as a 'gain' but in order to benefit she does not have her love close-by. A poignant poem. Von


    • I-Like-Rhymes Moderators member
      February 6
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      Although I cannot say it for a fact, I believe this was written for her second husband Noel Mcgriggor Phillips BEFORE her divorce from her first husband Charles. She was in Yorkshire he was in the Southern hemisphere cruising.
      Charles was not a pleasant guy(!) but in deference to her uncle and the mores of the time she remained married to him until the death of her uncle. After that she married Noel.