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:
- It was an April morning: fresh and clear by William Wordsworth
- Climbing poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- I Kiss the Feet of Angels poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- A Star in a Stoneboat by Robert Frost
- When Runnels Began To Leap And Sing poem – Alfred Austin
- Sonnet L by William Shakespeare
- Fancy In Nubibus, Or The Poet In The Clouds by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Robert Burns: Elegy On The Late Miss Burnet Of Monboddo :
- Михаил Лермонтов – Я счастлив, тайный яд течёт в моей крови
- Владимир Маяковский – Пролетарка, пролетарий, заходите в планетарий
- To Independence by Tobias Smollett
- Такахама Кёси – Мацумуси пищит
- William Henry Davies – William Henry Davies
- Владимир Маяковский – Раньше. Теперь
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Близ берегов
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
- Flowers of Sion: Sonnet 3 – Look how the flower by William Drummond
- Flowers of Sion: Sonnet 11 – The last and greatest herald by William Drummond
- Flowers From Sion: Sonnet 25 – More oft than once death whispered by William Drummond
- Faith by John Oxenham
- Exodus Of The Heart by Wilmer Escovar
- Everymaid by John Oxenham
- E.A. Nov. 6, 1900 by John Oxenham
- Don’t Worry by John Oxenham
- Dedication by Wole Soyinka
- Darkness And Light by John Oxenham
- Countrywomen by Katherine Mansfield
- Cold by Witt Wittmann
- Civilian and Soldier by Wole Soyinka
- Cigarettes And Whiskey And Wild, Wild Women by Anne Sexton
- Bring Us The Light by John Oxenham
- Better And Best by John Oxenham
- Because I’ve Learned by William Ellery Leonard
- Alone You Passed by William Ellery Leonard
- All’s Well! by John Oxenham
- Aftershock by William Marr
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.