Faded, and faded, and faded,
From woods where a
chieftain lies shaded!
Do you hear her, Ulmarra?
Oh! where doth her
chieftain lie shaded?
Bewail! bewail!
Who
whispered a tale,
That they heard on the gale,
Through the dark and the cold,
The voice of the bold;
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And a boomerang flying;
Flying, and flying, and flying?
Ah! her heart it is wasted with crying -
Do you hear her, Ulmarra?
Oh! her heart it is wasted with crying!
THE MAID OF GERRINGONG
ROLLING through the
gloomy gorges, comes the roaring southern blast,
With a sound of torrents flying, like a routed army, past,
And, beneath the
shaggy forelands, strange
fantastic forms of surf
Fly, like wild hounds, at the darkness, crouching over sea and earth;
Swooping round the
sunkencaverns, with an aggravated roar;
Falling where the waters tumble foaming on a screaming shore!
In a night like this we parted. Eyes were wet though speech was low,
And our thoughts were all in
mourning for the dear, dead Long Ago!
In a night like this we parted. Hearts were sad though they were young,
And you left me very
lonely, dark-haired Maid of Gerringong.
Said my
darling, looking at me, through the
radiance of her tears:
``Many changes, O my loved One, we will meet in after years;
Changes like to sudden sunbursts flashing down a rainy steep -
Changes like to swift-winged shadows falling on a moony deep!
And they are so cheerless sometimes, leaving, when they pass us by,
Deepening dolours on the sweet, sad face of our Humanity.
But you'll hope, and fail and faint not, with that heart so warm and true,
Watching for the coming Morning, that will flood the World for you;
Listening through a thirsty silence, till the low winds bear along
Eager footfalls - pleasant voices,'' said the Maid of Gerringong.
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Said my
darling, when the wind came sobbing wildly round the eaves:
``Oh, the Purpose scattered from me, like the withered autumn leaves!
Oh, the wreck of Love's ambition! Oh, the fond and full belief
That I yet should hear them hail you in your land a God-made chief!
In the loud day they may
slumber, but my thoughts will not be still
When the weary world is
sleeping, and the moon is on the hill;
Then your form will bend above me, then your voice will rise and fall,
Though I turn and hide in darkness, with my face against the wall,
And my Soul must rise and listen while those
homeless memories throng
Moaning in the night for shelter,'' said the Maid of Gerringong.
Ay, she passed away and left me! Rising through the dusk of tears,
Came a
vision of that
parting every day for many years!
Every day, though she had told me not to court the strange sweet pain,
Something
whispered - something led me to our olden haunts again:
And I used to
wandernightly, by the surges and the ships,
Harping on those last fond accents that had trembled from her lips:
Till a
vessel crossed the waters, and I heard a stranger say,
``One you loved has died in silence with her dear face turned away.''
Oh! the eyes that flash upon me, and the voice that comes along -
Oh! my light, my life, my
darling dark-haired Maid of Gerringong.
.
.
.
.
.
Some one saith, ``Oh, you that mock at Passion with a
worldly whine,
Would you change the face of Nature - would you limit God's design?
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Hide for shame from well-raised clamour,
moderate fools who would be wise;
Hide for shame - the World will hoot you! Love is Love, and never dies''
And another asketh, doubting that my brother speaks the truth,
``Can we love in age as
fondly as we did in days of youth?
Will dead faces always haunt us, in the time of
faltering breath?
Shall we yearn, and we so feeble?'' Ay, for Love is Love in Death.
Oh! the Faith with sure foundation! - let the Ages roll along,
You are mine, and mine for ever, dark-haired Maid of Gerringong.
Last night, dear, I dreamt about you, and I thought that far from men
We were walking, both together, in a
fragrant seaside glen;
Down where we could hear the surges wailing round the castled cliffs,
Down where we could see the
sunset reddening on the distant skiffs;
There a fall of mountain waters tumbled through the knotted bowers
Bright with
rainbow colours reeling on the
purple forest flowers.
And we rested on the benches of a
cavern old and hoar;
And I
whispered, ``this is surely her I loved in days of yore!
False he was who brought sad tidings! Why were you away so long,
When you knew who waited for you, dark-haired Maid of Gerringong?
``Did the strangers come around you, in the
far-off foreign land?
Did they lead you out of sorrow, with kind face and
loving hand?
Had they pleasant ways to court you - had they silver words to bind?
Had they souls more fond and loyal than the soul you left behind?
Do not think I blame you, dear one! Ah! my heart is gushing o'er
With the sudden joy and wonder, thus to see your face once more.
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Happy is the chance which joins us after long, long years of pain:
And, oh,
blessed was
whatever sent you back to me again!
Now our pleasure will be real - now our hopes again are young:
Now we'll climb Life's brightest
summits, dark-haired Maid of Gerringong.
``In the sound of many footfalls, did you
falter with regret
For a step which used to gladden in the time so vivid yet?
When they left you in the night-hours, did you lie awake like me,
With the thoughts of what we had been - what we never more could be?
Ah! you look but do not answer while I halt and question here,
Wondering why I am so happy, doubting that you are so near.
Sure these eyes with love are blinded, for your form is waxing faint;
And a
dreamy splendour crowns it, like the halo round a saint!
When I talk of what we will be, and new aspirations throng,
Why are you so sadly silent, dark-haired Maid of Gerringong?''
But she faded into
sunset, and the
sunset passed from sight;
And I followed madly after, through the misty, moony night,
Crying, ``do not leave me
lonely! Life has been so cold and drear,
You are all that God has left me, and I want you to be near!
Do not leave me in the darkness! I have walked a weary way,
Listening for your
truant footsteps - turn and stay, my
darling, stay!''
But she came not though I waited, watching through a splendid haze,
Where the lovely Phantom halted ere she vanished from my gaze.
Then I thought that rain was falling, for there rose a stormy song,
And I woke in gloom and
tempest, dark-haired Maid of Gerringong!
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WATCHING
LIKE a beautiful face looking ever at me
A pure bright moon cometh over the sea;
And I stand on the crags, and hear the falls
Go tumbling down, through the black river-walls;
And the heart of the gorge is rent with the cry
Of the pent-up winds in their agony!
You are far from me, dear, where I watch and wait,
Like a weary bird for a long-lost mate,
And my life is as dull as the
sluggish stream
Feeling its way through a world of dream;
For here is a waste of darkness and fear,
And I call and I call, but no one will hear!
O
darling of mine, do you ever yearn
For a something lost, which will never return?
O
darling of mine, on the grave of dead Hours,
Do you feel, like me, for a
handful of flowers?
Through the glens of the Past, do you
wander along,
Like a
restless ghost that hath done a wrong?
And, lying alone, do you look from the drouth
Of a thirsty Life with a pleading mouth?
When the rain's on the roof, and the gales are abroad,
Do you wash with your tears the feet of your God?
Oh! I know you do, and he sitteth alone,
Your wounded Love, while you mourn and moan -
Oh! I know you do, and he never will leap
From his silence with smiles, while you weep - and weep!
Your
coolness shake down, ye gathered green leaves,
For my spirit is faint with the love that it grieves!
Is there aught on the
summit, O yearner through Night,
Aught on the
summit which looks like the light;
When my soul is a-wearied and lone in the land,
Groping around will it touch a kind hand?
There are chasms between us as black as a pall,
But bring us together, O God over all!
And let me cast from me these fetters of Fear,
When I hear the glad singing of Faith so near;
For I know by the cheeks, which are pallid and wet,
And a listening life we shall
mingle yet!
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Oh! then I will turn to those
eloquent eyes,
And clasp thee close, with a sweet surprise;
And a guest will go in by the heart's holy door,
And the chambers of Love shall be left no more.
THE OPOSSUM-HUNTERS
HEAR ye not the waters
beating where the rapid rivers, meeting
With the winds above them
fleeting, hurry to the distant seas,
And a smothered sound of singing from old Ocean
upwards springing,
Sending hollow echoes ringing like a wailing on the breeze?
For the
tempest round us brewing, cometh with the clouds pursuing,
And the bright Day, like a ruin, crumbles from the
mournful trees.
When the
thunder ceases pealing, and the stars up heaven are stealing,
And the Moon above us wheeling throws her pleasant glances round,
From our homes we
boldly sally 'neath the trysting tree to rally,
For a night-hunt up the
valley, with our brothers and the hound!
Through a wild-eyed Forest, staring at the light above it glaring,
We will travel, little caring for the dangers where we bound.
Twisted boughs shall tremble o'er us, hollow woods shall moan before us,
And the torrents like a
chorus down the gorges dark shall sing;
And the vines shall shake and
shiver, and the startled grasses quiver,
Like the reeds beside a river in the gusty days of Spring;
While we forward haste
delighted, through a region seldom lighted -
Souls
impatient, hearts excited - like a wind upon the wing!
Oh! the
solemn tones of Ocean, like the language of devotion,
Or a voice of deep
emotion,
wander round the evening scene.
Oh! the
ragged shadows
cluster where, my brothers, we must muster
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Ere the warm moon lends her lustre to the cedars
darkly green;
And the lights like flowers shall
blossom, in high Heaven's kindly bosom,
While we hunt the wild opossum,
underneath its leafy screen;
Underneath the woven bowers, where the
gloomy night-hawk cowers,
Through a lapse of
dreamy hours, in a stirless solitude!
And the hound - that close beside us still will stay whate'er betide us -
Through a 'wildering waste shall guide us -
through a maze where few intrude,
Till the game is chased to cover, till the
stirring sport is over,
Till we bound, each happy rover,
homeward down the laughing wood.
Oh, the joy in
wandering
thither, when fond friends are all together
And our souls are like the weather - cloudless, clear and fresh and free!
Let the sailor sing the story of the ancient ocean's glory,
Forests golden, mountains hoary - can he look and love like we?
Sordid worldling, haunt thy city with that heart so hard and gritty!
There are those who turn with pity when they turn to think of thee!
IN THE DEPTHS OF THE FOREST
IN the depths of a Forest secluded and wild,
The night voices
whisper in
passionate numbers;