The Swan River

I know a lazy riverriver, that fills

my heart with joy Where I spent many happy

days when I was just a boy The years have passed, and I’ve grown old, but memories linger on Of all the happy days I spent

beside the River Swan Beneath its wide cool waters,

I’d wish my soul to rest Where it meets the sea at Fremantle, in the sunny Golden West I’ve roamed its sandy beaches,

climbed every rocky ridge From Mossman’s yellow sand

slide as far as Canning Bridge The deep wide Melville waters,

the swans as black as night To those who live along its banks, an ever-pleasing sight Often at a picnic, for hours

I would sit Watching the gulls and pelicans

on Point Walter’s sandy spit Though I live to be a hundred,

the memories will live on Of all the happy days I spent

beside the River Swan. My father Gordon Symonds wrote a number of poems during the 1940s, including this ode.

D Symonds, Neutral Bay, NSW