They nestle closely in a dim recess,
Which morning brushes with soft, golden wings.
Thought has bequeathed rare legacies to bless
The mind, with all its rich imaginings.
The Book, and Shakespeare, prince of literature,
A Rollin, a Miscellany, and lo,
Biography, and Gibbon's Rome demure,
With Shelley, Byron, Tennyson, and Poe.
Euripides' Medea, Hippolytus,
Alcestis, Hecuba, with backs that shine,
The Odyssey, Virgil's Aneidos,
Homer and Horace, in a classic line.
Plutarch and Tacitus, in scarlet chrome,
Elbow Longfellow. Dante, Burns, and Keats.
Scott gravely peers from out each bulky tome,
While Browning keeps a niche for Brooke and Yeats.
Mitchell's Australia, Adam Smith, between
The Histories, Pierre Loti's tales, and Wells,
Carlyle and Omar Khayyam together lean
On Kendall, Lawson, with their bushland spells.
When evening comes, and light is chastely dimmed,
These gentle hermit spirits seem to steal
Like sentient beings 'gainst the long Past limned.
Who galaxies of jewelled truths reveal.
Arcadia is here, amid the flowers
Of literature that gem blue, purling streams,
And emerald vales, where rosy footed hours
Lead Contemplation wrapped in opal dreams.
First published in The Brisbane Courier, 12 February 1927
Which morning brushes with soft, golden wings.
Thought has bequeathed rare legacies to bless
The mind, with all its rich imaginings.
The Book, and Shakespeare, prince of literature,
A Rollin, a Miscellany, and lo,
Biography, and Gibbon's Rome demure,
With Shelley, Byron, Tennyson, and Poe.
Euripides' Medea, Hippolytus,
Alcestis, Hecuba, with backs that shine,
The Odyssey, Virgil's Aneidos,
Homer and Horace, in a classic line.
Plutarch and Tacitus, in scarlet chrome,
Elbow Longfellow. Dante, Burns, and Keats.
Scott gravely peers from out each bulky tome,
While Browning keeps a niche for Brooke and Yeats.
Mitchell's Australia, Adam Smith, between
The Histories, Pierre Loti's tales, and Wells,
Carlyle and Omar Khayyam together lean
On Kendall, Lawson, with their bushland spells.
When evening comes, and light is chastely dimmed,
These gentle hermit spirits seem to steal
Like sentient beings 'gainst the long Past limned.
Who galaxies of jewelled truths reveal.
Arcadia is here, amid the flowers
Of literature that gem blue, purling streams,
And emerald vales, where rosy footed hours
Lead Contemplation wrapped in opal dreams.
First published in The Brisbane Courier, 12 February 1927
