The Evening Scene by Charles Harpur

Here, by the brook, at eve to meet
   Idalia promised me --
But even, with her zephyrs sweet,
   Is here, and where is she!
And naught are sweetest airs that fall
Around me, if beyond my call
Be my sweet love -- my all in all.

The flowers beneath -- the clouds above --
   Imbibe a deeper glow;
The shadows of each ancient grove
   To giant phantoms grow:
But nature's blushes charm not, thine,
Idalia, absent -- nor seem fine
Her shadows while thus lone is mine.

A thousand songsters 'tune their throats
   Along the gleaming brook;
In every air their music floats,
   From every bough is shook:
But if her happy voice I hear
Not mingled, to my anxious ear
No song is sweet, no music dear.

The sun sinks - and, in pairs or lone,
   All birds that far must go,
The crane and eagle, voyage on,
   The plover and the crow:
So, love, upon thy wonted wing,
To her wild bower beside the spring
The lingering Idalia bring.

Now first from heaven's dim dome, one star
   Looks down with eye of gold;
First o'er the eastern clouds afar
   The lady moon behold:
And, kindred sight! enwreathed with blooms,
Snatched, passing, from the fragrant brooms,
My bright, my chaste Idalia comes.

First published in The Australasian Chronicle, 10 November 1842;
and later in
The Poetical Works of Charles Harpur edited by Elizabeth Perkins, 1984.

Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library

See also.