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:
- On the Countess of Burlington Cutting Paper poem – Alexander Pope
- Scars on Paper by Marilyn Hacker
- Владимир Высоцкий – Один смотрел, другой орал
- Sonnet II by William Shakespeare
- I Am There by Mahmoud Darwish
- Magdalen poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sonnet 5: Those hours, that with gentle work did frame by William Shakespeare
- Олег Григорьев – Я дверь в коридор отворил
- The Woods At Night by May Swenson
- Orlando Furioso Canto 20 by Ludovico Ariosto
- For Once, Then, Something by Robert Frost
- “Yes! Thou Art Fair, Yet Be Not Moved” by William Wordsworth
- A Patch of Old Snow by Robert Frost
- Алишер Навои – Цветком, что счастье нам несет
- Song—The Fall of the Leaf by Robert Burns
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
- Youth And Age by William Butler Yeats
- Young Man’s Song by William Butler Yeats
- Words by William Butler Yeats
- Wisdom by William Butler Yeats
- Why Should Not Old Men Be Mad? by William Butler Yeats
- Who Goes With Fergus? by William Butler Yeats
- When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats
- When Helen Lived by William Butler Yeats
- What Was Lost by William Butler Yeats
- What Then? by William Butler Yeats
- Veronica’s Napkin by William Butler Yeats
- Vacillation by William Butler Yeats
- Upon A House Shaken By The Land Agitation by William Butler Yeats
- Upon A Dying Lady by William Butler Yeats
- Under The Round Tower by William Butler Yeats
- Under Saturn by William Butler Yeats
- Two Years Later by William Butler Yeats
- Two Songs Of A Fool by William Butler Yeats
- Two Songs From A Play by William Butler Yeats
- Towards Break Of Day by William Butler Yeats
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.