Stella Kon: Lyrics and Verses

 

When I was aged 15,  in Form Three in Raffles’ Girls School, our English Lit teacher required us to write a poem modeled on Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Vagabond.  I came up with the verses below.  As I look at them now, I can’t help regretting that, being modeled on another writer’s work, they are to that extent derivative. Nevertheless, it’s rather touching that these early verses sum up all that I have tried to do in my writing career ever since  - Stella Kon

 

 

Give to me the life I love,

Let my steps be going

Ever with sunlit skies above,

And the wide wind blowing.

Or in realms of fantasy,

Where stars wink out in the gloaming,

Everywhere that beauty be,

May my feet be roaming.

 

 May the spirit wondering

Vanish from me never.

May my eyes be swift to see

Beauty round me ever.

May I have the gift of speech,

So in song and story

I may then to others teach

 Mine own inward glory.