The rolling pasture-land slid green
On every side.
The Cape-weed with its golden sheen
Flaunts far and wide.
A depthless blue the floating sky! --
Day after day
The bird sing joyously; but I
Am far away,
Am far away from all the things
I love most dear --
Wet, sweeping sands and flashing wings,
Ships far and near;
Pale little Summer seas that break
In golden bays;
Salt-bitten secret flowers that break
Down windless ways!
I am far off! The old things call!
I dare not hear!
The sound of seas that break and fall
Rings in my ear
Like ghostly voices. Yet at night
In dreams I tread
Those beaches lying warm and bright,
Nor know them fled!
Pale tides and filmy flowers of foam,
White waters heap
Around me then .... I am come home
Only in sleep!
First published in The Australian Woman's Mirror, 6 December 1927
