Sarah Herbert: Irish Woman Poet

Sarah Herbert (1824-1846) was born in Ireland into the family of the Earl of Dysart, but emigrated with her family to Nova Scotia at the age of two on the Nassau, which was wrecked off the coast. Her mother died as a result but she and her father survived. He remarried and Sarah and her half-sister became literary collaborators on a number of popular works of fiction, as well as both writing poetry. ‘Adieu to the City’ comes from their shared collection, The Aeolian Harp, or, Miscellaneous Poems. 

 

ADIEU TO THE CITY

Adieu to the city! the summer is nigh,
And I know that the flowers are in bloom, —
I have had a glimpse of the bright blue sky,
As it shone o’er the house-tops, all dark and high,
Like the sunlight over the tomb!

Oh I long to roam the wild wood free,
And to list to the birds’ gay song,
As they flit in their freedom from tree to tree,
Or to gaze on the waves of the billowing sea,
As proudly it dashes along!

Oh gladly I leave thee, thou city street,
With thy dull and smoky air.
For the home where the loved will my coming greet,
And my welcome be spoken in accents sweet, —
I long, — Oh I long to be there!