Whiteley Lumb: Farewell to Bogden

Whiteley Lumb was a local poet – born in Ripponden – and a member of the Calder Valley Poets' Society

He wrote several poems for the postcards published by Lilywhite's.

One of these – Farewell to Bogden – was written in 1924 for a souvenir postcard published on the occasion of the flooding of Bogden when the Ryburn Reservoir was created for Wakefield Corporation

Sweet Bogden, thou art dear to me,
   I write thy name with grateful tears,
And bid a sad farewell to thee,
   Thou bonny gem of former years.
No wind so sweet as that which blew
   Across the vale I loved so well,
While words may bid thee sad adieu
   My heart with thee will ever dwell.

There may be fairer spots on earth:
   There may be sweeter lands above:
There may be mines of greater worth
   But 'tis for three I cry, I love:
Then in thy woods no child will play,
   No birds, no flowers, no tracks be there,
No ferns, no trees, there wealth display,
   There's nought but water everywhere!

The rugged pathway up the hill
   That to the church our footsteps took:
The cottage and the ruined mill,
   The valley and the rippling brook
Are all destroyed by man's decree
   Made tenants of a watery grave,
A small Atlantis hid from me,
   An Eden which I cannot save.

When o'er thy ruined heart there lies
   The tears of heaven to cover thee,
Gloom, like a night, will veil the skies
   And hide thee from the world and me.
I'm glad I knew thee at thy best,
   When thou art gone beyond recall,
May beauty dwell within thy breast
   The native beauty of thy soil.

Page Ref: WW_124

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