Poem by Henry Kendall

Poems and Songs (1862). To Charles Harpur

I would sit at your feet for long days,
 To hear the sweet Muse of the Wild
Speak out through the sad and the passionate lays
 Of her first and her favourite Child.

I would sit at your feet, for my soul
 Delights in the solitudes free;
And I stand where the creeks and the cataracts roll
 Whensoever I listen to thee!

I would sit at your feet, for I love
 By the gulches and torrents to roam;
And I long in this city for woodland and grove,
 And the peace of a wild forest home.

I would sit at your feet, and we'd dwell
 On the scenes of a long-vanished time,
While your thoughts into music would surge and would swell
 Like a breeze of our beautiful clime.

I would sit at your feet, for I know,
 Though the World in the Present be blind,
That the amaranth blossoms of Promise will blow
 When the Ages have left you behind.

I would sit at your feet, for I feel
 I am one of a glorious band
That ever will own you and hold you their Chief,
 And a Monarch of Song in the land!

1. Early Poems (1859-70). In Memoriam—Nicol Drysdale Stenhouse
2. Other Poems (1871-82). How the Melbourne Cup was Won
3. Early Poems (1859-70). Cui Bono?
4. Other Poems (1871-82). Aboriginal Death-Song
5. Other Poems (1871-82). Sydney Exhibition Cantata

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