Whispering in Wattle -Boughs
by Adam Lindsay Gordon
OH, gaily sings the bird! and the wattle-boughs are stirred
And rustled by the scented breath of Spring;
Oh, the dreary wistful longing! Oh, the faces that are thronging!
Oh, the voices that are vaguely whispering!
Oh, tell me, father mine, ere the good ship crossed the brine,
On the gangway one mute handgrip we exchanged,
Do you, past the grave, employ, for your stubborn reckless boy,
Those petitions that in life were ne’er estranged?
Oh, tell me, sister dear—parting word and parting tear
Never passed between us: let me bear the blame—
Are you living, girl, or dead? bitter tears since then I’ve shed
For the lips that lisped with mine a mother’s name.
Oh, tell me, ancient friend, ever ready to defend
In our boyhood, at the base of life’s long hill,
Are you waking yet or sleeping? Have you left this vale of weeping,
Or do you, like your comrade, linger still?
Oh, whisper, buried love, is there rest and peace above?—
There is little hope or comfort here below;
On your sweet face lies the mould, and your bed is strait and cold—
Near the harbour where the sea-tides ebb and flow.
All silent—they are dumb—and the breezes go and come
With an apathy that mocks at man’s distress;
Laugh, scoffer, while you may! I could bow me down and pray
For an answer that might stay my bitterness.
Oh, harshly screams the bird, and the wattle-bloom is stirred;
There’s a sullen weird-like whisper in the bough:
‘Aye, kneel and pray and weep, but HIS BELOVED SLEEP
CAN NEVER BE DISTURBED BY SUCH AS THOU!’

A few random poems:
- The Last Tournament poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Все люди
- The Defiance Of Eteocles
- Жан Расин – Когда мы вышли из Трезенских врат
- Наум Коржавин – Еще в мальчишеские годы
- Sound And Sense poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Олег Бундур – 1 сентября
- The Monkey by Shel Silverstein
- The Cat’s Song by Marge Piercy
- The Primrose of the Rock by William Wordsworth
- Upside Down
- Владимир Маяковский – Били раз… (РОСТА №631)
- Intruder
- On Visiting The Tomb Of Burns poem – John Keats poems
- Rhapsody on a Windy Night by T. S. Eliot
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
- Far In a Western Brookland poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- Far In a Western Brookland poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- Epitaph On An Army of Mercenaries poem – A. E. Housman
- Could Man Be Drunk Forever poem – A. E. Housman
- Bring, In This Timeless Grave To Throw poem – A. E. Housman
- Bredon Hill poem – A. E. Housman
- As Through the Wild Green Hills of Wyre poem – A. E. Housman
- Along the field as we came poem – A. E. Housman
- The Haymakers’ Song poem – Alfred Austin
- Love’s Blindness poem – Alfred Austin
- At His Grave poem – Alfred Austin
- Agatha poem – Alfred Austin
- Loves Blindness
- The Haymakers Song
- Loves Blindness
- At His Grave
- Agatha
- Why
- Where Are You
- Tell Me
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.