Part 2

Happy years, amongst these valleys, happy years have come and gone, And my youthful hopes and friendships withered with them one by one; Days and moments bearing onward many a bright and beauteous dream, All have passed me like to sunstreaks flying down a distant stream. Oh, the love returned by loved ones! Oh, the faces that I knew! Oh, the wrecks of fond affection! Oh, the hearts so warm and true! But their voices I remember, and a something lingers still, Like a dying echo roaming sadly round a far off hill.

I would sojourn here contented, tranquil as I was of yore, And would never wish to clamber, seeking for an unknown shore; I have dwelt within this cottage twenty summers, and mine eyes Never wandered erewhile round in search of undiscovered skies; But a spirit sits beside me, veiled in robes of dazzling white, And a dear one's whisper wakens with the symphonies of night; And a low sad music cometh, borne along on windy wings, Like a strain familiar rising from a maze of slumbering springs.

And the Spirit, by my window, speaketh to my restless soul, Telling of the clime she came from, where the silent moments roll; Telling of the bourne mysterious, where the sunny summers flee Cliffs and coasts, by man untrodden, ridging round a shipless sea. There the years of yore are blooming--there departed life-dreams dwell, There the faces beam with gladness that I loved in youth so well; There the songs of childhood travel, over wave-worn steep and strand-- Over dale and upland stretching out behind this mountain land.

"Lovely Being, can a mortal, weary of this changeless scene, Cross these cloudy summits to the land where man hath never been? Can he find a pathway leading through that wildering mass of pines, So that he shall reach the country where ethereal glory shines; So that he may glance at waters never dark with coming ships; Hearing round him gentle language floating from angelic lips; Casting off his earthly fetters, living there for evermore; All the blooms of Beauty near him, gleaming on that quiet shore?

"Ere you quit this ancient casement, tell me, is it well to yearn For the evanescent visions, vanished never to return? Is it well that I should with to leave this dreary world behind, Seeking for your fair Utopia, which perchance I may not find? Passing through a gloomy forest, scaling steeps like prison walls, Where the scanty sunshine wavers and the moonlight seldom falls? Oh, the feelings re-awakened! Oh, the hopes of loftier range! Is it well, thou friendly Being, well to wish for such a change?"

But the Spirit answers nothing! and the dazzling mantle fades; And a wailing whisper wanders out from dismal seaside shades! "Lo, the trees are moaning loudly, underneath their hood-like shrouds, And the arch above us darkens, scarred with ragged thunder clouds!" But the spirit answers nothing, and I linger all alone, Gazing through the moony vapours where the lovely Dream has flown; And my heart is beating sadly, and the music waxeth faint, Sailing up to holy Heaven, like the anthems of a Saint.

Kiama

Towards the hills of Jamberoo Some few fantastic shadows haste, Uplit with fires Like castle spires Outshining through a mirage waste. Behold, a mournful glory sits On feathered ferns and woven brakes, Where sobbing wild like restless child The gusty breeze of evening wakes! Methinks I hear on every breath A lofty tone go passing by, That whispers--"Weave, Though wood winds grieve, The fadeless blooms of Poesy!"

A spirit hand has been abroad-- An evil hand to pluck the flowers-- A world of wealth, And blooming health Has gone from fragrant seaside bowers. The twilight waxeth dim and dark, The sad waves mutter sounds of woe, But the evergreen retains its sheen, And happy hearts exist below; But pleasure sparkles on the sward, And voices utter words of bliss, And while my bride Sits by my side, Oh, where's the scene surpassing this?

Kiama slumbers, robed with mist, All glittering in the dewy light That, brooding o'er The shingly shore, Lies resting in the arms of Night; And foam-flecked crags with surges chill, And rocks embraced of cold-lipped spray, Are moaning loud where billows crowd In angry numbers up the bay. The holy stars come looking down On windy heights and swarthy strand, And Life and Love-- The cliffs above-- Are sitting fondly hand in hand.

I hear a music inwardly, That floods my soul with thoughts of joy; Within my heart Emotions start That Time may still but ne'er destroy. An ancient Spring revives itself, And days which made the past divine; And rich warm gleams from golden dreams, All glorious in their summer shine; And songs of half forgotten hours, And many a sweet melodious strain, Which still shall rise Beneath the skies When all things else have died again.

A white sail glimmers out at sea-- A vessel walking in her sleep; Some Power goes past That bends the mast, While frighted waves to leeward leap. The moonshine veils the naked sand And ripples upward with the tide, As underground there rolls a sound From where the caverned waters glide. A face that bears affection's glow, The soul that speaks from gentle eyes, And joy which slips From loving lips Have made this spot my Paradise!

Etheline

The heart that once was rich with light, And happy in your grace, Now lieth cold beneath the scorn That gathers on your face; And every joy it knew before, And every templed dream, Is paler than the dying flash On yonder mountain stream. The soul, regretting foundered bliss Amid the wreck of years, Hath mourned it with intensity Too deep for human tears!

The forest fadeth underneath The blast that rushes by-- The dripping leaves are white with death, But Love will never die! We both have seen the starry moss That clings where Ruin reigns, And _one_ must know _his_ lonely breast Affection still retains; Through all the sweetest hopes of life, That clustered round and round, Are lying now, like withered things, Forsaken--on the ground.

'Tis hard to think of what we were, And what we might have been, Had not an evil spirit crept Across the tranquil scene: Had fervent feelings in your soul Not failed nor ceased to shine As pure as those existing on, And burning still in mine. Had every treasure at your feet That I was wont to pour, Been never thrown like worthless weeds Upon a barren shore!

The bitter edge of grief has passed, I would not now upbraid; Or count to you the broken vows, So often idly made! I would not cross your path to chase The falsehood from your brow-- I _know_, with all that borrowed light, You are not happy now: Since those that once have trampled down Affection's early claim, Have lost a peace they need not hope To find on earth again.

Aileen

A splendid sun betwixt the trees Long spikes of flame did shoot, When turning to the fragrant South, With longing eyes and burning mouth, I stretched a hand athwart the drouth, And plucked at cooling fruit.

So thirst was quenched, and hastening on With strength returned to me, I set my face against the noon, And reached a denser forest soon; Which dipped into a still lagoon Hard by the sooming sea.

All day the ocean beat on bar And bank of gleaming sand; Yet that lone pool was always mild, It never moved when waves were wild, But slumbered, like a quiet child, Upon the lap of land.

And when I rested on the brink, Amongst the fallen flowers, I lay in calm; no leaves were stirred By breath of wind, or wing of bird; It was so still, you might have heard The footfalls of the hours.

Faint slumbrous scents of roses filled The air which covered me: My words were low--"she loved them so, In Eden vales such odours blow: How strange it is that roses grow So near the shores of Sea!"

A sweeter fragrance never came Across the Fields of Yore! And when I said--"we here would dwell,"-- A low voice on the silence fell-- "Ah! if you loved the roses well, You loved Aileen the more."

"Ay, that I did, and now would turn, And fall and worship her! But Oh, you dwell so far--so high! One cannot reach, though he may try, The Morning land, and Jasper sky-- The balmy hills of Myrrh.

"Why vex me with delicious hints Of fairest face, and rarest blooms; You Spirit of a darling Dream Which links itself with every theme And thought of mine by surf or stream, In glens--or caverned glooms?"

She said, "thy wishes led me down, From amaranthine bowers: And since my face was haunting thee With roses (dear which used to be), They all have hither followed me, The scents and shapes of flowers."

"Then stay, mine own evangel, stay! Or, going, take me too; But let me sojourn by your side, If here we dwell or there abide, It matters not!" I madly cried-- "I only care for you."

Oh, glittering Form that would not stay!-- Oh, sudden, sighing breeze! A fainting rainbow dropped below Far gleaming peaks and walls of snow And there, a weary way, I go, Towards the Sunrise seas.

Kooroora

The gums in the gully stand gloomy and stark, A torrent beneath them is leaping, And the wind goes about like a ghost in the dark Where a chief of Wahibbi lies sleeping! He dreams of a battle--of foes of the past, But he hears not the whooping abroad on the blast, Nor the fall of the feet that are travelling fast. Oh, why dost thou slumber, Kooroora?

They come o'er the hills in their terrible ire, And speed by the woodlands and water; They look down the hills at the flickering fire, All eager and thirsty for slaughter. Lo! the stormy moon glares like a torch from the vale, And a voice in the belah grows wild in its wail, As the cries of the Wanneroos swell with the gale-- Oh! rouse thee and meet them, Kooroora!

He starts from his sleep and he clutches his spear, And the echoes roll backward in wonder, For a shouting strikes into the hollow woods near, Like the sound of a gathering thunder. He clambers the ridge, with his face to the light, The foes of Wahibbi come full in his sight-- The waters of Mooki will redden to-night. Go! and glory awaits thee, Kooroora!

Lo! yeelamans splinter and boomerangs clash, And a spear through the darkness is driven-- It whizzes along like a wandering flash From the heart of a hurricane riven. They turn to the mountains, that gloomy-browed band; The rain droppeth down with a moan to the land, And the face of a chieftain lies buried in sand-- Oh, the light that was quenched with Kooroora!

To-morrow the Wanneroo dogs will rejoice, And feast in this desolate valley; But where are his brothers--the friends of his choice, And why art thou absent, Ewalli? Now silence draws back to the forest again, And the wind, like a wayfarer, sleeps on the plain, But the cheeks of a warrior bleach in the rain. Oh! where are thy mourners, Kooroora?

Fainting by the Way

Swarthy wastelands, wide and woodless, glittering miles and miles away, Where the south wind seldom wanders and the winters will not stay; Lurid wastelands, pent in silence, thick with hot and thirsty sighs, Where the scanty thorn-leaves twinkle with their haggard, hopeless eyes; Furnaced wastelands, hunched with hillocks, like to stony billows rolled, Where the naked flats lie swirling, like a sea of darkened gold; Burning wastelands, glancing upward with a weird and vacant stare, Where the languid heavens quiver o'er red depths of stirless air!

"Oh, my brother, I am weary of this wildering waste of sand; In the noontide we can never travel to the promised land! Lo! the desert broadens round us, glaring wildly in my face, With long leagues of sunflame on it,--oh! the barren, barren place! See, behind us gleams a green plot, shall we thither turn and rest Till a cold wind flutters over, till the day is down the west? I would follow, but I cannot! Brother, let me here remain, For the heart is dead within me, and I may not rise again."

"Wherefore stay to talk of fainting?--rouse thee for awhile, my friend; Evening hurries on our footsteps, and this journey soon will end. Wherefore stay to talk of fainting, when the sun, with sinking fire, Smites the blocks of broken thunder, blackening yonder craggy spire? Even now the far-off landscape broods and fills with coming change, And a withered moon grows brighter bending o'er that shadowed range; At the feet of grassy summits sleeps a water calm and clear-- There is surely rest beyond it! Comrade, wherefore tarry here?

"Yet a little longer struggle; we have walked a wilder plain, And have met more troubles, trust me, than we e'er shall meet again! Can you think of all the dangers you and I are living through With a soul so weak and fearful, with the doubts _I_ never knew? Dost thou not remember that the thorns are clustered with the rose, And that every Zin-like border may a pleasant land enclose? Oh, across these sultry deserts many a fruitful scene we'll find, And the blooms we gather shall be worth the wounds they leave behind!"

"Ah, my brother, it is useless! See, o'erburdened with their load, All the friends who went before us fall or falter by the road! We have come a weary distance, seeking what we may not get, And I think we are but children, chasing rainbows through the wet. Tell me not of vernal valleys! Is it well to hold a reed Out for drowning men to clutch at in the moments of their need? Go thy journey on without me; it is better I should stay, Since my life is like an evening, fading, swooning fast away!

"Where are all the springs you talked of? Have I not with pleading mouth Looked to Heaven through a silence stifled in the crimson drouth? Have I not, with lips unsated, watched to see the fountains burst, Where I searched the rocks for cisterns? And they only mocked my thirst! Oh, I dreamt of countries fertile, bright with lakes and flashing rills Leaping from their shady caverns, streaming round a thousand hills! Leave me, brother, all is fruitless, barren, measureless, and dry, And my God will _never_ help me though I pray, and faint, and die!"

"Up! I tell thee this is idle! Oh, thou man of little faith! Doubting on the verge of Aidenn, turning now to covet death! By the fervent hopes within me, by the strength which nerves my soul, By the heart that yearns to help thee, we shall live and reach the goal! Rise and lean thy weight upon me. Life is fair, and God is just, And He yet will show us fountains, if we only look and trust! Oh, I know it, and He leads us to the glens of stream and shade, Where the low, sweet waters gurgle round the banks which cannot fade!"

Thus he spake, my friend and brother! and he took me by the hand, And I think we walked the desert till the night was on the land; Then we came to flowery hollows, where we heard a far-off stream Singing in the moony twilight, like the rivers of my dream. And the balmy winds came tripping softly through the pleasant trees, And I thought they bore a murmur like a voice from sleeping seas. So we travelled, so we reached it, and I never more will part With the peace, as calm as sunset, folded round my weary heart.

Song of the Cattle-Hunters

While the morning light beams on the fern-matted streams, And the water-pools flash in its glow, Down the ridges we fly, with a loud ringing cry-- Down the ridges and gullies we go! And the cattle we hunt--they are racing in front, With a roar like the thunder of waves, As the beat and the beat of our swift horses' feet Start the echoes away from their caves! As the beat and the beat Of our swift horses' feet Start the echoes away from their caves!

Like a wintry shore that the waters ride o'er, All the lowlands are filling with sound; For swiftly we gain where the herds on the plain, Like a tempest, are tearing the ground! And we'll follow them hard to the rails of the yard, O'er the gulches and mountain-tops grey, Where the beat and the beat of our swift horses' feet Will die with the echoes away! Where the beat and the beat Of our swift horses' feet Will die with the echoes away!

Footfalls

The embers were blinking and clinking away, The casement half open was thrown; There was nothing but cloud on the skirts of the Day, And I sat on the threshold alone!

And said to the river which flowed by my door With its beautiful face to the hill, "I have waited and waited, all wearied and sore, But my love is a wanderer still!"

And said to the wind, as it paused in its flight To look through the shivering pane, "There are memories moaning and homeless to-night That can never be tranquil again!"

And said to the woods, as their burdens were borne With a flutter and sigh to the eaves, "They are wrinkled and wasted, and tattered and torn, And we too have our withering leaves."

Did I hear a low echo of footfalls about, Whilst watching those forest trees stark? Or was it a dream that I hurried without To clutch at and grapple the dark?

In the shadow I stood for a moment and spake-- "Bright thing that was loved in the past, Oh! am I asleep--or abroad and awake? And are you so near me at last?

"Oh, roamer from lands where the vanished years go, Oh, waif from those mystical zones, Come here where I long for you, broken and low, On the mosses and watery stones!

"Come out of your silence and tell me if Life Is so fair in that world as they say; Was it worth all this yearning, and weeping, and strife When you left it behind you to-day?

"Will it end all this watching, and doubting, and dread? Do these sorrows die out with our breath? Will they pass from our souls like a nightmare," I said, "While we glide through the mazes of Death?

"Come out of that darkness and teach me the lore You have learned since I looked on your face; By the summers that blossomed and faded of yore-- By the lights which have fled to that place!

"You answer me not when I know that you could-- When I know that you could and you should; Though the storms be abroad on the wave; Though the rain droppeth down with a wail to the wood, And my heart is as cold as your grave!"

God Help Our Men at Sea

The wild night comes like an owl to its lair, The black clouds follow fast, And the sun-gleams die, and the lightnings glare, And the ships go heaving past, past, past-- The ships go heaving past! Bar the doors, and higher, higher Pile the faggots on the fire: Now abroad, by many a light, Empty seats there are to-night-- Empty seats that none may fill, For the storm grows louder still: How it surges and swells through the gorges and dells, Under the ledges and over the lea, Where a watery sound goeth moaning around-- God help our men at sea!

Oh! never a tempest blew on the shore But that some heart did moan For a darling voice it would hear no more And a face that had left it lone, lone, lone-- A face that had left it lone! I am watching by a pane Darkened with the gusty rain, Watching, through a mist of tears, Sad with thoughts of other years, For a brother I did miss In a stormy time like this. Ah! the torrent howls past, like a fiend on the blast, Under the ledges and over the lea; And the pent waters gleam, and the wild surges scream-- God help our men at sea!

Ah, Lord! they may grope through the dark to find Thy hand within the gale; And cries may rise on the wings of the wind From mariners weary and pale, pale, pale-- From mariners weary and pale! 'Tis a fearful thing to know, While the storm-winds loudly blow, That a man can sometimes come Too near to his father's home; So that he shall kneel and say, "Lord, I would be far away!" Ho! the hurricanes roar round a dangerous shore, Under the ledges and over the lea; And there twinkles a light on the billows so white-- God help our men at sea!

Sitting by the Fire

Barren Age and withered World! Oh! the dying leaves, Like a drizzling rain, Falling round the roof-- Pattering on the pane! Frosty Age and cold, cold World! Ghosts of other days, Trooping past the faded fire, Flit before the gaze. Now the wind goes soughing wild O'er the whistling Earth; And we front a feeble flame, Sitting round the hearth! Sitting by the fire, Watching in its glow, Ghosts of other days Trooping to and fro.

. . . . .

Oh, the nights--the nights we've spent, Sitting by the fire, Cheerful in its glow; Twenty summers back-- Twenty years ago! If the days were days of toil Wherefore should we mourn; There were shadows near the shine, Flowers with the thorn? And we still can recollect Evenings spent in mirth-- Fragments of a broken life, Sitting round the hearth: Sitting by the fire, Cheerful in its glow, Twenty summers back-- Twenty years ago.

Beauty stooped to bless us once, Sitting by the fire, Happy in its glow; Forty summers back-- Forty years ago. Words of love were interchanged, Maiden hearts we stole; And the light affection throws Slept on every soul. Oh, the hours went flying past-- Hours of priceless worth; But we took no note of Time, Sitting round the hearth: Sitting by the fire, Happy in its glow, Forty summers back-- Forty years ago.

Gleesome children were we not? Sitting by the fire, Ruddy in its glow, Sixty summers back-- Sixty years ago. Laughing voices filled the room; Oh, the songs we sung, When the evenings hurried by-- When our hearts were young! Pleasant faces watched the flame-- Eyes illumed with mirth-- And we told some merry tales, Sitting round the hearth: Sitting by the fire, Ruddy in its glow, Sixty summers back-- Sixty years ago.

. . . . .

Barren Age and withered World! Oh, the dying leaves, Like a drizzling rain, Falling round the roof-- Pattering on the pane! Frosty Age and cold, cold World! Ghosts of other days, Trooping past the faded fire, Flit before the gaze. Now the wind goes soughing wild O'er the whistling Earth; And we front a feeble flame, Sitting round the hearth: Sitting by the fire, Watching, in its glow, Ghosts of other days Trooping to and fro!

Bellambi's Maid

Amongst the thunder-splintered caves On Ocean's long and windy shore, I catch the voice of dying waves Below the ridges old and hoar; The spray descends in silver showers, And lovely whispers come and go, Like echoes from the happy hours I never more may hope to know! The low mimosa droops with locks Of yellow hair, in dewy glade, While far above the caverned rocks I hear the dark Bellambi's Maid!