Poem by Henry Kendall

Poems and Songs (1862). Bellambi's Maid

Amongst the thunder-splintered caves
 On Ocean's long and windy shore,
I catch the voice of dying waves
 Below the ridges old and hoar;
The spray descends in silver showers,
 And lovely whispers come and go,
Like echoes from the happy hours
 I never more may hope to know!
The low mimosa droops with locks
 Of yellow hair, in dewy glade,
While far above the caverned rocks
 I hear the dark Bellambi's Maid!

The moonlight dreams upon the sail
 That drives the restless ship to sea;
The clouds troop past the mountain vale,
 And sink like spirits down the lee;
The foggy peak of Corrimal,
 Uplifted, bears the pallid glow
That streams from yonder airy hall
 And robes the sleeping hills below;
The wandering meteors of the sky
 Beneath the distant waters wade,
While mystic music hurries by—
 The songs of dark Bellambi's Maid!

Why comes your voice, you lonely One,
 Along the wild harp's wailing strings?
Have not our hours of meeting gone,
 Like fading dreams on phantom wings?
Are not the grasses round your grave
 Yet springing green and fresh to view?
And does the gleam on Ocean's wave
 Tide gladness now to me and you?
Oh! cold and cheerless falls the night
 On withered hearts and hopes decayed:
And I have seen but little light
 Since died the dark Bellambi's Maid!

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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