Fear is the shadow cast by Love
(Oh, why should Love a shadow cast?)
Blue-crystal is the sky above,
And sweet the mate-call of the dove,
And yet my heart beats hard and fast --
Seeing that little shadow there
The man who waved me his good-bye,
And rode where ring-barked trees stand bare --
I strain my eyes against the glare,
And shudder at a black crow's cry.
What if an empty-saddled horse
Should canter back with swinging rein?
My heart, leaps at imagined loss,
My blood runs backward to its source,
And night, at noon-day, darks the plain.
But when the sunset brings the sound
Of ringing hoofs, and his clear call,
Joy's flaming gold ring clips me round,
As though, indeed, the lost were found,
And Love by fear crowned Lord of All.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 September 1935
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography
See also.
(Oh, why should Love a shadow cast?)
Blue-crystal is the sky above,
And sweet the mate-call of the dove,
And yet my heart beats hard and fast --
Seeing that little shadow there
The man who waved me his good-bye,
And rode where ring-barked trees stand bare --
I strain my eyes against the glare,
And shudder at a black crow's cry.
What if an empty-saddled horse
Should canter back with swinging rein?
My heart, leaps at imagined loss,
My blood runs backward to its source,
And night, at noon-day, darks the plain.
But when the sunset brings the sound
Of ringing hoofs, and his clear call,
Joy's flaming gold ring clips me round,
As though, indeed, the lost were found,
And Love by fear crowned Lord of All.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 September 1935
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography
See also.
