HENRY PARKES: 27TH APRIL, 1896.
One last salute; and then the long farewell!
Sad silence of the Old Man Eloquent!
The Soul, expatriate, strikes its time-bleached tent,
Departing, in the Farther Land to dwell.
Not flawless, it may be, the record stands --
He was but mortal. Yet, true Citizen,
All his long life he served, with speech and pen,
His Country, not himself; and with clean hands,
Empty of lucre, he waves Adieu to men.
First published in The Queenslander, 2 May 1896
One last salute; and then the long farewell!
Sad silence of the Old Man Eloquent!
The Soul, expatriate, strikes its time-bleached tent,
Departing, in the Farther Land to dwell.
Not flawless, it may be, the record stands --
He was but mortal. Yet, true Citizen,
All his long life he served, with speech and pen,
His Country, not himself; and with clean hands,
Empty of lucre, he waves Adieu to men.
First published in The Queenslander, 2 May 1896
