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:
- To Melancholy- Written On An intensely agitated Day by Nithin Purple
- Marine Snow At Mid-Depths And Down by Thomas Lux
- Occasioned By Some Verses of His Grace the Duke of Buckingham poem – Alexander Pope
- Let me draw your face by St Antoine de la Vuadi
- Владимир Костров – Не банкира, не детей Арбата
- Новелла Матвеева – Восток, прошедший чрез воображенье
- Missing Person by Vinita Agrawal
- Виталий Тунников – Бумеранг
- Off Mesolongi poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Луговской – Спасибо
- Blessings On Children by William Gilmore Simms
- Taita Falcon above the Zambezi by Tom Mukasa
- Спиридон Дрожжин – В деревне
- Низами Гянджеви – Мне ночь не в ночь, мне в ночь невмочь
- Ageing Schoolmaster by Vernon Scannell
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
- Pay your last respects by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- My rains by Vinko Kalinic
- My mother was telling me by Vinko Kalinic
- My angel’s face by Vinko Kalinić
- Missing Person by Vinita Agrawal
- Mi ha el by Vinko Kalinić
- Manifesto for your smile and my songs by Vinko Kalinic
- Lets go by Vinko Kalinić
- Legacy by Vinko Kalinić
- Joy of giving by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Instead of farewell by Vinko Kalinić
- If you love the life by Vinko Kalinić
- I don’t want to have you by Vinko Kalinic
- I am your friend by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- I’ve dreamt of dreaming ’bout you by Vinko Kalinić
- House For Sale by Vinita Agrawal
- Hey! Mr.Pothole by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Happy Teacher’s Day by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Get together by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Fear by Vinko Kalinić
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.