A-Shelling Peas

Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant 1864 (Bridgwater, Somerset) – 1902 (Pretoria)



Now, all the world is green and bright
  Outside the latticed pane;
The fields are decked with gold and white,
  And Spring has come again.
But though the world be fair without,
  With flow'rs and waving trees,
'Tis pleasanter to be about
  Where Nell's a-shelling peas.

Her eyes are blue as cloudless skies,
  And dimples deck her cheeks;
Whilst soft lights loiter in her eyes
  Whene'er she smiles or speaks.
So all the sunlit morning-tide
  I dally at mine ease,
To loaf at slender Nelly's side
  When Nell's a-shelling peas.

This bard, who sits a-watching Nell,
  With fingers white and slim,
Owns up that, as she breaks each shell,
  She also "breaks up" him;
And could devoutly drop upon
  Submissive, bended knees
To worship Nell with apron on -
  A saint a-shelling peas.

The tucked-up muslin sleeves disclose
  Her round arms white and bare -
'Tis only "shelling peas" that shows
  Those dainty dimples there.
Old earth owns many sights to see
  That captivate and please; -
The most bewitching sight for me
  Is Nell a-shelling peas.

 

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

55 sec read
73

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXAXBCBC DEDEFCFC GHGHICIC JKJKLCLC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,052
Words 179
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8

Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant

Harry "Breaker" Harbord Morant (born Edwin Henry Murrant, 9 December 1864 – 27 February 1902) was an Anglo-Australian drover, horseman, bush poet and military officer, who was convicted and executed for murder during the Second Anglo-Boer War. While serving with the Bushveldt Carbineers during the Second Anglo-Boer War, Lieutenant Morant was arrested and court-martialed for war crimes—one of the first such prosecutions in British military history. According to military prosecutors, Morant retaliated for the death in combat of his commanding officer with a series of revenge killings against both Boer POWs and many civilian residents of the Northern Transvaal. more…

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