Poem by Henry Kendall

Leaves from Australian Forests (1869). Charles Harpur

Where Harpur lies, the rainy streams,
 And wet hill-heads, and hollows weeping,
Are swift with wind, and white with gleams,
 And hoarse with sounds of storms unsleeping.

Fit grave it is for one whose song
 Was tuned by tones he caught from torrents,
And filled with mountain breaths, and strong,
 Wild notes of falling forest currents.

So let him sleep, the rugged hymns
 And broken lights of woods above him!
And let me sing how sorrow dims
 The eyes of those that used to love him.

As April in the wilted wold
 Turns faded eyes on splendours waning,
What time the latter leaves are old,
 And ruin strikes the strays remaining;

So we that knew this singer dead,
 Whose hands attuned the harp Australian,
May set the face and bow the head,
 And mourn his fate and fortunes alien.

The burden of a perished faith
 Went sighing through his speech of sweetness,
With human hints of time and death,
 And subtle notes of incompleteness.

But when the fiery power of youth
 Had passed away and left him nameless,
Serene as light, and strong as truth,
 He lived his life, untired and tameless.

And, far and free, this man of men,
 With wintry hair and wasted feature,
Had fellowship with gorge and glen,
 And learned the loves and runes of Nature.

Strange words of wind, and rhymes of rain,
 And whispers from the inland fountains
Are mingled, in his various strain,
 With leafy breaths of piny mountains.

But as the undercurrents sigh
 Beneath the surface of a river,
The music of humanity
 Dwells in his forest-psalms for ever.

No soul was he to sit on heights
 And live with rocks apart and scornful:
Delights of men were his delights,
 And common troubles made him mournful.

The flying forms of unknown powers
 With lofty wonder caught and filled him;
But there were days of gracious hours
 When sights and sounds familiar thrilled him.

The pathos worn by wayside things,
 The passion found in simple faces,
Struck deeper than the life of springs
 Or strength of storms and sea-swept places.

But now he sleeps, the tired bard,
 The deepest sleep; and, lo! I proffer
These tender leaves of my regard,
 With hands that falter as they offer.

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

Print

1269 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version