|
SEE LOVE'S WEB AROUND
THEE WEAVING
Sometime in the late 1830s, Mereweather
entered the following four-verse poem in his book of
Memoranda, on page 38.
|
|
 |
Song
See Love’s
web around thee weaving,
Maiden! Shun
the fatal snare,
Trust no more
those lips deceiving
Search his
heart, thou art not
there!
Though thy
simple heart he wooeth
With a
love-impassioned brow,
Yet with
equal warmth he sueth
Many women
fair as thou.
Thus o’er
many a lovely flower
Flutters oft
the painted fly,
Though each
court a transient gaze
None can fix
his wandering eye.
Yet this fly
so gay, so joyous
Soon becomes
a loathed thing
So will He,
despised, forsaken
By the hearts
who’ve felt his sting.
|
On pages 215-217, the poem is rewritten
and expanded to comprise twelve verses. The entry is not
dated, but would seem to have been made between March
and September 1846. Mereweather thus wrote this poem
well before he arrived in Australia. |
|
 |
Song
See Love’s
web around thee weaving,
Maiden, shun
the fatal snare;
Trust no more
those lips deceiving,
Search his
heart – thou art not
there.
Thee, O fondest One he sueth,
With all eloquence, yet know
That with equal warmth he woeth
Many women fair as thou.
Harsh his nature, gentle thine,
Specious he, and thou confiding;
I would warn thee, ladye mine
For his love hath no abiding.
Such, such is man; too quickly
losing
All the freshness of warm
feeling,
Subtle, cold, and love abusing,
Bold adept at double dealing
|
 |
Sighs and tears are his at
pleasure,
Hand on heart and bended knee,
Now to gain the wished for
treasure,
Love unending voweth he:
Now, the costly treasure his
His, a doating woman's love,
Straight he loathes such perfect
bliss,
Straight again he needs must
rove.
Onward, onward, see him roving
Over land and over sea,
Loved full oft, but never
loving,
Constant to inconstancy.
But woman's love all love
excelling,
Higher, purer, holier far,
In the clear heaven of her
feeling
Sparkles like the morning star.
|
 |
While man struggles on with toil
Rocking on life's troubled
ocean,
[pencil: o'er]
Woman's love like balmy oil,
Soothes his aching heart's
emotion.
Woman’s love
is strong as death
Fixed but
once her fond affections
‘Tis her
life, her pulse, her breath
Sum of
all her recollections
[pencil:
Soul ... ... predilections]
Man, replete
with selfish feeling
Never can
that love repay
He will
swear, his guile concealing,
Swear he
loves, but to betray.
O then ladye
warm of heart,
Constant
ever, too confiding,
I would warn
thee, ere we part,
That man’s love hath no abiding. |
| |
|
|
This Song, See Love’s web
around thee weaving, slightly amended, was
set to music by Miss Murphy and dedicated to Mrs
Alfred Stephen (Eleanor, née Bedford). In this form it was published in
Sydney by W. J. Johnson & Co. of 314 Pitt Street, printed at F. Cunninghame of 113 King Street.
The price was 2s. 6d.
A short review (with the song title misspelt)
appeared on 21 May 1853 in
Bell's
Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer, a weekly newspaper. The anonymous reviewer is not
impressed by Mereweather's poetry. The fair Miss
Murphy, on the other hand, "has done the fullest
justice to the reverend author; and to the
melodious accompaniment as rendered by her, the
superfluity we have alluded to in the verses may
pass unnoticed, or at least be tolerated".
The printed version of the song is reproduced below by
kind permission of the
Mitchell Library, State
Library of New South Wales. This is
copyright material, and may not be re-used in
any way. |
|
