Venice masks

Wednesday, 3 December 2025

A Grave in Samoa - John Macfarlane

     The wild birds strangely call,
And silent dawns and purple eves are here,
Where Southern stars upon his grave look down,
     Calm-eyed and wondrous clear!
 
     No strife his resting mars!
And yet we deem far off from tropic steeps
His spirit cleaves the pathway of the storm,
     Where dark Tantallon keeps.
 
     For still in plaintive woe,
By haunting mem’ry of his yearning led,
The wave-worn Mother of the misty strand
     Mourns for her absent dead:
 
     Ah! bear him gently home,
To where Dunedin’s streets are quaint and gray,
And ruddy lights across the steaming rains
     Shine soft at close of day!
 
Robert Louis Stevenson died Dec. 3, 1894


John Macfarlane [aka John Arbory] (1857-1914) Canada (born in Scotland)
Source: A Grave in Samoa, John Macfarlane, Privately produced pamphlet, Montreal, 1897

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