Poem by Henry Kendall

Leaves from Australian Forests (1869). By the Sea

   The caves of the sea have been troubled to-day
    With the water which whitens, and widens, and fills;
   And a boat with our brother was driven away
    By a wind that came down from the tops of the hills.
   Behold I have seen on the threshold again
    A face in a dazzle of hair!
   Do you know that she watches the rain, and the main,
    And the waves which are moaning there?
     Ah, moaning and moaning there!

   Now turn from your casements, and fasten your doors,
    And cover your faces, and pray, if you can;
   There are wails in the wind, there are sighs on the shores,
    And alas, for the fate of a storm-beaten man!
   Oh, dark falls the night on the rain-rutted verge,
    So sad with the sound of the foam!
   Oh, wild is the sweep and the swirl of the surge;
    And his boat may never come home!
     Ah, never and never come home!

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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