A NIGHT THOUGHT by Harry ("Breaker") Morant

The world around is sleeping,
   The stars are bright o'erhead,
The shades of myalls weeping
   Upon the sward are spread;
Among the gloomy pinetops
   The fitful breezes blow,
And their murmurs seem the music
   Of a song of long ago;
Soft, passionate, and wailing
   Is the tender old refrain -
With a yearning unavailing -
   "Will he no come back again?"


The camp-fire sparks are flying
   Up from the pine-log's glow,
The wandering wind is sighing
   That ballad sweet and low;
The drooping branches gleaming
   In the firelight, sway and stir;
And the bushman's brain is dreaming
   Of the song she sang, and her.
And the murmurs of the forest
   Ring home to heart and brain,
As in the pine is chorused
   "Wi11 he no come back again?"

On a Warrego sandridge, 8 August 1891.

First published in The Bulletin, 5 September 1891.