Thomas Burke

“ And the fleet feet of those who have purchased trouble.
But those that tread most heavily on my heart
Are the light and lingering footsteps of tired young women.
Making a Feast
Ho! Friends and enemies of Pennyfields,
A feast is spread, and you are all invited.
Many tides have risen and retired
Since I left the fervid skies of my own country
For the thin skies and leaden streets of the West.
Long have I sojourned, seeking my desire,
Keeping my shop, and looking always with long eyes
At others' guesting-tables, at whose top sat love. ”

“ To his own country, whither he most desired to go.
An Upright Man
The grave and thin-faced one who keeps the Bespoke Tailor's Shop,
And subjects his child to treatment of a most disagreeable nature,
Never goes into the Blue Lantern,
Never takes pellet of li-un or nut of areca,
Or communes with Black Smoke,
Or loses money at puckapoo,
Or makes public outcry or gesture
Expressive of delight in his friends,
Or does foolish and unworthy things,
Or makes exchange of hats with friends.
He has no friends, for he has no weaknesses. ”

“ And Pennyfields and West India Dock Road
Are to-night a part of my own country,
Aglow with the hues of the Peacock's Tail,
Very amiable to the eye.
In a recess of my heart
Is a poor street hung with lanterns. ”

“ I see my thoughts like a white river in your eyes;
How, as I walk down the street where you have trod,
The very stones are to me the smiles that you scatter as you pass.
How your look thrills my heart as a guitar thrills to the touch. ”

“ At shop in Pennyfields, many times a day,
This person pays respect to Big Man Joss,
And burns to him prayer-papers and punk-sticks.
And all day long men toil for wife and child;
Wife suffer and stint to make bigger plate for child ”

“ Walks the willowy maiden from the tea-shop across the road.
One Service Breeds Another
One of this person's white-skinned friends, Bill Hawkins,
Who labours at the waterside,
Had occasion, at the time of unkind weather,
To rescue from the certain peril of drowning
One who had slipped from the edge of a wharf to the dock.
Without reward the flower serves the bee.
The mother serves the child with pain and toil.
The soldier serves his king without king's gratitutde. ”

“ For if we always so behaved, one to the other,
There would be no business done.
Directions for Making Tea
In making tchah for table, each man has his own way.
Some serve it dashed with lemon, and some with bamboo shoot,
And some with sugar, in the English way,
And some with spot of sam-shu. ”