Select Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4839, 12 July 1884, Page 1

Select Poetry.

IS POETEY DEAD ?

How bare of all that feeds romantic dreams, « Australia! Of all lands the strangest one— Vast plains, baked hard beneath the merci-

less sun— Scraggy, unsightly forests—muddy streams-

Sharp, iron-bound ridges on the ocean

beach — N Rivers,3 swamp-fringed, whence alligators

spring— Bright scentless flowers—gay birds, whoso weird notes ring In" a deep depressing wail, or tuneless screech! ' ' .-. J No antique rains, peeping from thy hills, Teem with the legends of a bygone age— No spot made famous in historic page, ' With memories of the past the bosom thrills.

The faeries, sure, of olden time are fled— Not here could " pixy " green or merry sprite Hold their glad revels in the sweet moonlight. Alas! is poetry for ever dead ? -

No. Still it lingers in We /primy:'iwr©a|:":.-'r'' r''. Wrung from the brow-'o'f^ir^i^:h^icmtiS'the ■■.;.. tracks •' ".-■[ '.'./''■■■'i'-'-'y "; v'-'./'Q^,;';.:"■•':.•> '■ Of: th!e:'advsnturbus pibneer!s bold 'raxs;-'. i Through the cleared fbrest where Ms home

is set—

It hovers round the'golden secrets won. Tainfnlly fi-om the disembowelled'earth—-' It~"robes the wonders skill*has brought to ■■■■'•■ l birth" -':: vv':;..■S-,'r:;::'J. V:^.;;;^:»; .:°: : :; t •/ With glory brighter thanthe prying sun—-

It permeates the awful solitudes, v Of ■; foi'ests yet uiitracked, or champaign bleak. Unbroken,: save by the nnearthly Bhriek > Of some bright-plumaged,'.tenant ';:bf tho; .;.;' .-.'.■ woods— ;■ ■•." .•■■.> ';''<-;- r ~v : > :r :n 'r^v'-.i^---'^

It travels with the. ever-growing stream '■'•'.. Of life, that o'er thy boundless valleys flows, Whose history could stringer things disclose Than ficton; ever wrote, or dared to dream.

ISo. . Poetry connot die—prolific child i-: Of progress j linked':; with-'.' Badly-chequered • -:.: ■■ '■ toil-— ;:"-r"-':.':/-y^^: > ..'•/./■';.-;■;■ •■;;■-;-,/. However unroinantic' be the soil, Or the lone wilderness however wild.: !

Sons yet shall crown thee in the comingl years, Discerning sweetness in each ' straggling brook, .■-•;,• !-..■■ ■;■>./;-'.; ■■..-'.'■'•^-' '''■.:>■■;"■:• ' Plashes of beauty in thy dea^sfcnobk;^", - : Eich' gleams of Bunshine"iri thy bitterest .; -1 ' tears] ':^'\ '■'■ /'."?-:.' c-^'^yl-f.\:':-' •-■■: '.■.<