Branch Riverside

Andrew Joseph Nash                       

 

                                                                                                                                             

Text Box: Dear Newfoundland, the land of my fathers Although I’m an exile, far from your fair shore Deep recollections come o’er me stealing I sigh for the land I may never see more Dear Vale of Branch, of all Nature’s fair sceneries To me you’re the fairest, what e’re may be the tide As the fond recollections come o’er me stealing I sigh for my home by the fair riverside It was there my young footsteps in infancy wandered With dear friends of my boyhood, long since decayed It was oft times I roamed o’er your sweet smiling meadows And on your green flats in the springtime I played On each summer’s morning with all nature adorning To roam o’er your green banks we never would fail To pluck the wild flowers on the Whitewood Hill barrens But since I have learned it is called Ferndale When cold breezes were blowing with cheeks all a glowing It was down o’er Power’s Hill oft in winter we’d slide And then in the gloaming, when tired from roaming I’d return to my home by the fair riverside It was oft times we angled and the speckled trout landed On the Summer House Point that’s down near the seaside And when twilight appeared it was tired but pleased I would seek my old home by the fair riverside Methinks I am standing by the old ferry landing Watching the skiffs sailing in o’er the tide With Neptune’s wind blowing and a storm was a brewing Oft o’er mountainous seas the skiffs they would ride It was there my young bosom oft filled with emotion As I stood on the bank with no trouble to mar And listened to many a tale of the ocean Of life-saving feats that occurred on the bar Dear Terra Nova, your sons they are roving To seek for a living in some foreign clime May prosperity pour on your surf-worn shore And may joy crown each home by the Branch riverside “This poem written by Uncle Andy was found in a scrapbook kept by my mother Aggie” —Terry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Branch Riverside

Submitted By: Cynthia (Nash) O’Keefe

Branch Come Home Year

August 9-19, 2007