The clouds closed ashen gray --
Where the last of sunlight lay
Like a dying ember on a hearth grown chill;
And the great pines, that were green
With the west aflame between,
Stood all sable on the sand-ridge -- whispering still.
There arose not moon or star;
And the horse bells, tinkling far
In the distant creek-bed, fainter fell and ceased.
With its crimson bleached to snow
Burned the camp-fire -- low, and low;
And a rainy gale blew sudden from the East.
And the sombre serried lines
Of the vast environing pines
Merged their blackness in the swiftly-gathered gloom.
And 'twas then, ah then, I heard
First thy plaintful voice, O bird --
Like the wail of banished ghost at word of doom.
All a painted scene it seemed --
While the sunset glowed and gleamed --
When the waning west grew cold. No ominous chill
Checked the heart-beat steady and strong,
As some savage-chanted song
Came the curlew's call and woke no boding thrill.
So I hearkened -- oft and oft,
For the foot of Fate fell soft;
Gladness, line by line, all moonlike melted slow;
And the planets quenched and spent
Yet awhile their lustre lent;
And the angels poised for flight delayed to go.
First published in The Queenslander, 13 September 1890
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Old Qld Poetry
See also.
Where the last of sunlight lay
Like a dying ember on a hearth grown chill;
And the great pines, that were green
With the west aflame between,
Stood all sable on the sand-ridge -- whispering still.
There arose not moon or star;
And the horse bells, tinkling far
In the distant creek-bed, fainter fell and ceased.
With its crimson bleached to snow
Burned the camp-fire -- low, and low;
And a rainy gale blew sudden from the East.
And the sombre serried lines
Of the vast environing pines
Merged their blackness in the swiftly-gathered gloom.
And 'twas then, ah then, I heard
First thy plaintful voice, O bird --
Like the wail of banished ghost at word of doom.
All a painted scene it seemed --
While the sunset glowed and gleamed --
When the waning west grew cold. No ominous chill
Checked the heart-beat steady and strong,
As some savage-chanted song
Came the curlew's call and woke no boding thrill.
So I hearkened -- oft and oft,
For the foot of Fate fell soft;
Gladness, line by line, all moonlike melted slow;
And the planets quenched and spent
Yet awhile their lustre lent;
And the angels poised for flight delayed to go.
First published in The Queenslander, 13 September 1890
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Old Qld Poetry
See also.
