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an anthology of australian verse-第12部分

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 To sadden its blossoming leas;

 More bland than the Hesperides;

Or any warm isle of the West;

 Where the wattle…bloom perfumes the breeze;

And the bell…bird builds her nest。



When the oak and the elm are bare;

 And wild winds vex the shuddering trees;

There the clematis whitens the air;

 And the husbandman laughs as he sees

 The grass rippling green to his knees;

And his vineyards in emerald drest 

 Where the wattle…bloom bends in the breeze;

And the bell…bird builds her nest。



What land is with this to compare?

 Not the green hills of Hybla; with bees

Honey…sweet; are more radiant and rare

 In colour and fragrance than these

 Boon shores; where the storm…clouds cease;

And the wind and the wave are at rest 

 Where the wattle…bloom waves in the breeze;

And the bell…bird builds her nest。



        Envoy。



Sweetheart; let them praise as they please

 Other lands; but we know which is best 

Where the wattle…bloom perfumes the breeze;

 And the bell…bird builds her nest。







  A Song





Above us only

 The Southern stars;

And the moon o'er brimming

 Her golden bars。

And a song sweet and clear

 As the bell…bird's plaint;

Hums low in my ear

 Like a dream…echo faint。

    The kind old song 

    How did it go?

    With its ripple and flow;

    That you used to sing; dear;

    Long ago。



Hand fast in hand;

 I; love; and thou;

Hand locked in hand;

 And on my brow

Your perfumed lips

 Breathing love and life 

The love of the maiden;

 The trust of the wife。

    And I'm listening still

    To the ripple and flow 

    How did it go? 

    Of the little French song

    Of that long ago。



Can you recall it

 Across the years?

You used to sing it

 With laughter and tears。

If you sang it now; dear;

 That kind old refrain;

It would bring back the fragrance

 Of the dead years again。

    Le printemps pour l'amour 

    How did it go?

    Only we know;

    Sing it; sweetheart; to…night;

    As you did long ago。









James Lister Cuthbertson。







  Australia Federata





Australia! land of lonely lake

 And serpent…haunted fen;

Land of the torrent and the fire

 And forest…sundered men:

Thou art not now as thou shalt be

 When the stern invaders come;

In the hush before the hurricane;

 The dread before the drum。



A louder thunder shall be heard

 Than echoes on thy shore;

When o'er the blackened basalt cliffs

 The foreign cannon roar 

When the stand is made in the sheoaks' shade

 When heroes fall for thee;

And the creeks in gloomy gullies run

 Dark crimson to the sea:



When under honeysuckles gray;

 And wattles' swaying gold;

The stalwart arm may strike no more;

 The valiant heart is cold 

When thou shalt know the agony;

 The fever; and the strife

Of those who wrestle against odds

 For liberty and life:



Then is the great Dominion born;

 The seven sisters bound;

From Sydney's greenly wooded port

 To lone King George's Sound 

Then shall the islands of the south;

 The lands of bloom and snow;

Forth from their isolation come

 To meet the common foe。



Then; only then  when after war

 Is peace with honour born;

When from the bosom of the night

 Comes golden…sandalled morn;

When laurelled victory is thine;

 And the day of battle done;

Shall the heart of a mighty people stir;

 And Australia be as one。







  At Cape Schanck





Down to the lighthouse pillar

 The rolling woodland comes;

Gay with the gold of she…oaks

 And the green of the stunted gums;

With the silver…grey of honeysuckle;

 With the wasted bracken red;

With a tuft of softest emerald

 And a cloud…flecked sky o'erhead。



We climbed by ridge and boulder;

 Umber and yellow scarred;

Out to the utmost precipice;

 To the point that was ocean…barred;

Till we looked below on the fastness

 Of the breeding eagle's nest;

And Cape Wollomai opened eastward

 And the Otway on the west。



Over the mirror of azure

 The purple shadows crept;

League upon league of rollers

 Landward evermore swept;

And burst upon gleaming basalt;

 And foamed in cranny and crack;

And mounted in sheets of silver;

 And hurried reluctant back。



And the sea; so calm out yonder;

 Wherever we turned our eyes;

Like the blast of an angel's trumpet

 Rang out to the earth and skies;

Till the reefs and the rocky ramparts

 Throbbed to the giant fray;

And the gullies and jutting headlands

 Were bathed in a misty spray。



Oh; sweet in the distant ranges;

 To the ear of inland men;

Is the ripple of falling water

 In sassafras…haunted glen;

The stir in the ripening cornfield

 That gently rustles and swells;

The wind in the wattle sighing;

 The tinkle of cattle bells。



But best is the voice of ocean;

 That strikes to the heart and brain;

That lulls with its passionate music

 Trouble and grief and pain;

That murmurs the requiem sweetest

 For those who have loved and lost;

And thunders a jubilant anthem

 To brave hearts tempest…tossed。



That takes to its boundless bosom

 The burden of all our care;

That whispers of sorrow vanquished;

 Of hours that may yet be fair;

That tells of a Harbour of Refuge

 Beyond life's stormy straits;

Of an infinite peace that gladdens;

 Of an infinite love that waits。







  Wattle and Myrtle





Gold of the tangled wilderness of wattle;

 Break in the lone green hollows of the hills;

Flame on the iron headlands of the ocean;

 Gleam on the margin of the hurrying rills。



Come with thy saffron diadem and scatter

 Odours of Araby that haunt the air;

Queen of our woodland; rival of the roses;

 Spring in the yellow tresses of thy hair。



Surely the old gods; dwellers on Olympus;

 Under thy shining loveliness have strayed;

Crowned with thy clusters; magical Apollo;

 Pan with his reedy music may have played。



Surely within thy fastness; Aphrodite;

 She of the sea…ways; fallen from above;

Wandered beneath thy canopy of blossom;

 Nothing disdainful of a mortal's love。



Aye; and Her sweet breath lingers on the wattle;

 Aye; and Her myrtle dominates the glade;

And with a deep and perilous enchantment

 Melts in the heart of lover and of maid。







  The Australian Sunrise





The Morning Star paled slowly; the Cross hung low to the sea;

And down the shadowy reaches the tide came swirling free;

The lustrous purple blackness of the soft Australian night;

Waned in the gray awakening that heralded the light;

Still in the dying darkness; still in the forest dim

The pearly dew of the dawning clung to each giant limb;

Till the sun came up from ocean; red with the cold sea mist;

And smote on the limestone ridges; and the shining tree…tops kissed;

Then the fiery Scorpion vanished; the magpie's note was heard;

And the wind in the she…oak wavered; and the honeysuckles stirred;

The airy golden vapour rose from the river breast;

The kingfisher came darting out of his crannied nest;

And the bulrushes and reed…beds put off their sallow gray

And burnt with cloudy crimson at dawning of the day。









John Farrell。







  Australia to England



      June 22nd; 1897





What of the years of Englishmen?

 What have they brought of growth and grace

Since mud…built London by its fen

 Became the Briton's breeding…place?

What of the Village; where our blood

 Was brewed by sires; half man; half brute;

In vessels of wild womanhood;

 From blood of Saxon; Celt and Jute?



What are its gifts; this Harvest Home

 Of English tilth and English cost;

Where fell the hamlet won by Rome

 And rose the city that she lost?

O! terrible and grand and strange

 Beyond all phantasy that gleams

When Hope; asleep; sees radiant Change

 Come to her through the halls of dreams!



A heaving sea of life; that beats

 Like England's heart of pride to…day;

And up from roaring miles of streets

 Flings on the roofs its human spray;

And fluttering miles of flags aflow;

 And cannon's voice; and boom of bell;

And seas of fire to…night; as though

 A hundred cities flamed and fell;



While; under many a fair festoon

 And flowering crescent; set ablaze

With all the dyes that English June

 Can lend to deck a day of days;

And past where mart and palace rise;

 And shrine and temple lift their spears;

Below five million misted eyes

 Goes a grey Queen of Sixty Years 



Go lords; and servants of the lords

 Of earth; with homage on their lips;

And kinsmen carrying English swords;

 And offering England battle…ships;

And tribute…payers; on whose hands

 Their English fetters scarce appear;

And gathered round from utmost lands

 Ambassadors of Love and Fear!



Dim signs of greeting waved afar;

 Far trumpets blown and flags unfurled;

And England's name an Avatar

 Of light and sound throughout the world 

Hailed Empress among nations; Queen

 Enthroned in solemn majesty;

On splendid proofs of what has been;

 And presages of what will be!



For this your sons; foreseeing not

 Or heeding not; the aftermath;

Because their strenuous hearts were hot

 Went first on many a cruel path;

And; trusting first and last to blows;

 Fed death with such as would gainsay

Their instant passing; or oppose

 With talk of Right strength's right of way!



For this their names are on the stone

 Of mountain spires; and carven trees

That stand in flickering wastes unknown

 Wait with their dying messages;

When fire blasts dance with desert drifts

 The English bones show white below;

And; not so white; when summer lifts

 The counterpane of Yukon's snow。



Condemned by blood to reach for grapes

 That hang in sight; however high;

Beyond the smoke of Asian capes;

 The nameless; dauntless; dead ones lie;

And 

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