Over the roof of the world I fly --
Snow clouds drifting beneath the sky,
The desert dust I blow afar,
To realms beneath the Evening Star.
I come from where dread Tamerlane
Left half a million tribesmen slain;
From Gobi's waste and Cathay's host
I scourge the Coromandel Coast.
And on and on o'er storied lands,
Swift-winged I haste to distant strands,
To where, beneath the sunset glow,
Vast London Town spreads out below.
I smite the Orkneys lone and drear,
I fill the fisher folk with fear;
And on to where great surges roll
And icefields guard the Northern Pole.
From North to South afar I go,
O'er mountains white with winter's snow;
I cross the Line with rush and roar,
And lightly kiss the Austral shore.
Where Sydney's perfect haven lies
Dreaming beneath her turquoise skies --
Until at length I sink to rest
Upon the ramparts of the West.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 November 1932
