Visitant
Earth swings away to the cold.
Though I have what I came here to find,
Time changes and alters the mould.
As a new age replaces the old
I feel the world leave me behind.
It is not my world anymore;
But of course was it ever mine?
Bred up to a different law,
I came from a distant shore
To watch, to appraise, to divine.
Yet much which I saw became dear;
Some few were close to my heart;
Although it was perfectly clear
I was a stranger here
Standing aloof and apart.
Now it is time to return,
I shall miss this world more than I thought.
All I came here merely to learn
Holds me now with such love and concern,
To whom do I make my report?
A. D. Hope
There are four five line stanzas with rhyming scheme ‘abaab’.
We are here for such a short time and it is not our real ‘home’. We are only taking up temporary accommodation. So it is quite alright to consider ourselves as a visitor to the world – well that is the thought behind these words – so what has this visitation been like? And when we return to our true ‘home’ what report will be rendered (and to whom)?
The other underlying thought concerns age when the world of our youth is remembered with affection – was it ever ours anyway. As we age the changing world leaves us behind as much as we are about to leave the world behind too.
The world has been kind and will be missed. I like the nice sentiment to be held in the love of all that has been learnt.
Perhaps we should leave a written report below before that final journey then when we get to ‘wherever’ hopefully (excuse the pun) we may be able to reference it and then we won’t forget anything! Lines of communication may be a problem of course – a special type of Email?
Here is a link to the Australian poet A. D. Hope on Wikipedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._D._Hope
my word in your ear 
Coincidently, I had just finished reading Clive James article “The Measure of AD Hope” in “The Revolt of the Pendulum 2005-2008. He comments that Hope always took an author active voice drawing consistently on more and more obscure mythological figures ‘By and large he left himselfleft himself out of it, when his range of subject matter could have benefited mightily had he brought himself in”
Visitation, I guess, is a late poem and it is unusual in its first person use. Still highly structured of course.
The James article makes great reading, touching on Hope’s comic voice (usually labelled satirical,, again because of his distancing.
Thanks Richard
Excuse self correcting text: authoritative not author active,