#AustralianWriters
When I was but a little boy Who hunted in the wood To scare or mangle or destroy A freakish elemental joy That tasted life and found it good
While the summer day is hot You and I will loaf awhile, Lolling in a leafy spot, Lali of the cunning smile. You and I have little care
A golden largesse from a store unt… Announced the ruddy day’s imperial… And woke a loyal world to jubilant… And hopes that boasted, madly over… Shadow and thunder from a dull clo…
Nurse not your grief, nor make obs… When I have shed this flesh I lov… Nor slowly toll the dull heart-bru… Nor carve my name in customary sto… But let the generous earth reclaim…
A timid child with heart oppressed By images of sin, I slunk into the bush for rest, And found my fairy kin. The fire I carried kept me warm:
When fires have burnt your forest… And you are parched and dizzy, and… For pools in dust unvisited of rai… And shamble, lost, along a shimmer… This is the comfort of the world:…
Time, who with soft pale ashes vei… Of many a hope that flared against… To plant its heaven-storming banne… Has touched you with no desecratin… Your beauty wins a ripeness sweet…
From every quarter we, Who bent the trembling knee And cowered or grovelled prostrate… Now come once more to sing A dirge before thee, King,
ABOVE us hangs the jewelled nigh… And how her restful cool caresses Make us forget the weary sight Of summer’s daily wildernesses! O aching toil and hope deferred,
He, born of my girlhood, is dead,… Ere the breasts where his baby lip… We part. He was mine, he was here… My son who could trample on fear,… As I sat in the darkness, it seem…
Seasons bloom and seasons wither;… Must we try with floods of bitter… Vainly chase the brown and broken… Shall we scorn the flowers around… Flowers giving loads of fragrance…
Good friend of mine, you feel with… Your blood grows hot by sympathy With something that I say or do; Then speak’I want a word from y… Let not the silence wrap you round
Borne in the car along a crowded w… Sun-soaked, I saw the world like… Or phantom boats, upon a running t… Driven through flying fog at break… “The chain gang? Yes,” I heard a…
The Sphinx The spires of sand spring up at ev… That bids them dance and scatter a… He sits impassive, as the ages flo… And bear superbly the mirage of lu…
When I cast my slough of clay Put it quietly away. Let no bloom untimely fade Where my empty heart is laid. Ask no folk to crowd around