As I went up by Oliver's Hill,
The sea lay under me, blue and still,
With the curving sand and the tea-tree laid
In a marbled pattern of light and shade.
As I went up by Oliver's Hill,
I whistled a tune that was blithe and shrill;
No happier thing, there moved than I
Under the matchless morning sky!
As I looked out from Oliver's Hill
Over the sea world, blue and still,
I saw a ship with a wisp of grey
Moving out on the far-away.
As I came down from Oliver's Hill
My heart lay grieving, cold and still!
How to stay while that ship rode free,
To breast the tides of some unknown sea!
First published in The Australasian, 17 December 1927
