An Exile’s Farewell
by Adam Lindsay Gordon
The ocean heaves around us still
With long and measured swell,
The autumn gales our canvas fill,
Our ship rides smooth and well.
The broad Atlantic’s bed of foam
Still breaks against our prow;
I shed no tears at quitting home,
Nor will I shed them now!
Against the bulwarks on the poop
I lean, and watch the sun
Behind the red horizon stoop —
His race is nearly run.
Those waves will never quench his light,
O’er which they seem to close,
To-morrow he will rise as bright
As he this morning rose.
How brightly gleams the orb of day
Across the trackless sea!
How lightly dance the waves that play
Like dolphins in our lee!
The restless waters seem to say,
In smothered tones to me,
How many thousand miles away
My native land must be!
Speak, Ocean! is my Home the same
Now all is new to me? —
The tropic sky’s resplendent flame,
The vast expanse of sea?
Does all around her, yet unchanged,
The well-known aspect wear?
Oh! can the leagues that I have ranged
Have made no difference there?
How vivid Recollection’s hand
Recalls the scene once more!
I see the same tall poplars stand
Beside the garden door;
I see the bird-cage hanging still;
And where my sister set
The flowers in the window-sill —
Can they be living yet?
Let woman’s nature cherish grief,
I rarely heave a sigh
Before emotion takes relief
In listless apathy;
While from my pipe the vapours curl
Towards the evening sky,
And ‘neath my feet the billows whirl
In dull monotony!
The sky still wears the crimson streak
Of Sol’s departing ray,
Some briny drops are on my cheek,
‘Tis but the salt sea spray!
Then let our barque the ocean roam,
Our keel the billows plough;
I shed no tears at quitting home,
Nor will I shed them now!

A few random poems:
- The Current by Raymond Carver
- To the State of Love. Or the Senses’ Festival. By John Cleveland
- Алексей Толстой – Слова для мазурки
- Valgovinds Song In The Spring
- Robert Burns: Reply To An Announcement By J. Rankine: On His Writing To The Poet, That A Girl In That Part Of The Country Was With A Child To Him.
- Gleaners Of Fame poem – Alfred Austin
- Memory by William Butler Yeats
- Низами Гянджеви – Слышишь, звякнул бубенцами
- Robert Burns: Handsome Nell:
- Robert Burns: Will Ye Go To The Indies, My Mary?:
- Visor’d. by Walt Whitman
- Grandeur Of Ghosts by Siegfried Sassoon
- On A Theme In The Greek Anthology
- If Truth In Hearts That Perish
- Владимир Маяковский – Тропики
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Poor Mailie’s Elegy by Robert Burns
- Poem on Sensibility by Robert Burns
- Pegasus at Wanlockhead by Robert Burns
- Paraphrase of the First Psalm by Robert Burns
- One Night as I did Wander by Robert Burns
- On the late Captain Grose’s Peregrinations by Robert Burns
- On the Death of Robert Dundas, Esq., of Arniston by Robert Burns
- On the Death of John M’Leod, Esq. by Robert Burns
- On the Birth of a Posthumous Child by Robert Burns
- On Tam the Chapman by Robert Burns
- On seeing Mrs. Kemble in Yarico by Robert Burns
- On Scaring some Water-Fowl in Lock Turit by Robert Burns
- On Glenriddell’s Fox breaking his chain: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- On Elphinstone’s Translation of Martial’s Epigrams by Robert Burns
- On Chloris requesting a sprig of blossom’d thorn by Robert Burns
- Oh Wert Thou In The Cauld Blast by Robert Burns
- Ode, Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Oswald of Auchencruive by Robert Burns
- Ode on the Departed Regency Bill by Robert Burns
- Ode for General Washington’s Birthday by Robert Burns
- Note to Mr. Renton of Lamerton by Robert Burns
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833 – 1870) was an Australian or British-Australian poet, horseman, police officer and politician. He is considered to be one of the first national Australian poets.