On poetable.net today

The Antipodes

by James Brunton Stephens

A town, a river, hills and trees,

Blue-bounded by the boundless sky —

Is this the strange antipodes

That baffled young credulity?

Once on a time, of childhood's dreams

This was the very cap and crown;

But now how natural it seems

That down is up, and up is down!

Things on the whole don't look askew:

It's "all serene," somehow or other;

And yet 'tis veritably true

That I am treading on my mother!

Oh, mother dear, forgive the act,

Great Nature's laws my steps control: —

Love leaps o'er all; we are, in fact,

Now more than ever sole to sole!