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:
- from Book I, Paterson by William Carlos Williams
- Return Of The Heroes by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Dream by Siegfried Sassoon
- Sunshine through a Cobwebbed Window poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- In Memory Of Eva Gore-Booth And Con Markiewicz by William Butler Yeats
- Black Pine Tree In An Orange Light by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Орлов – Ночной листок
- Олег Чупров – Взлетев высоко и прекрасно
- Listen Beloved
- Paradise Lost: Book 02 poem – John Milton poems
- Владимир Степанов – Телефон (Буква Т)
- Sonnet 31: Thy bosom is endearèd with all hearts by William Shakespeare
- To share by Victor A. Bueno M.
- Robert Burns: I Love My Love In Secret:
- Ольга Высотская – Я зубы стисну, губы закушу
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
- Great-Heart by Rudyard Kipling
- Gethsemane by Rudyard Kipling
- Gentlmen-Rankers by Rudyard Kipling
- Gehazi by Rudyard Kipling
- Fuzzy-Wuzzy by Rudyard Kipling
- Ford o’ Kabul River by Rudyard Kipling
- For To Admire by Rudyard Kipling
- For All We Have And Are by Rudyard Kipling
- Follow Me ‘ome by Rudyard Kipling
- Farewell and adieu… by Rudyard Kipling
- Evarra And His Gods by Rudyard Kipling
- England’s Answer by Rudyard Kipling
- Eddi’s Service by Rudyard Kipling
- Doctors by Rudyard Kipling
- Divided Destinies by Rudyard Kipling
- Delilah by Rudyard Kipling
- Dedication by Rudyard Kipling
- Dane-Geld by Rudyard Kipling
- Cuckoo Song by Rudyard Kipling
- Cruisers by Rudyard Kipling
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.