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:
- Echo by Thomas Moore
- Deep In The Night by Sara Teasdale
- Before They Were Mothers by Sappho
- Robert Burns: Carle, An The King Come:
- A Dream Of England poem – Alfred Austin
- To the author(s) of Manimekalai by T. Wignesan
- Making Light Of It by Philip Levine
- Landowners by Sylvia Plath
- Statistics by William Butler Yeats
- Владимир Маяковский – Наш паровоз, стрелой лети
- After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost
- Robert Burns: On The Death Of Robert Dundas, Esq., Of Arniston,: Late Lord President of the Court of Session.
- A General Summary by Rudyard Kipling
- Blame by Raj Napal
- At Bordj-an-Nus poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
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
- The Old Revolutionary’s Room by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Ode of Welcome by Oliver St. John Gogarty
- O mother, O Merry by Nikunj Sharma
- My Invisible Valentine by Nin Andrews
- My first seen by Osman cisse Hanif
- My Government Frustrates Me by Olaniyi Beloved Abimbola
- Mother’s Love by Nin Andrews
- Living with Cancer by Nin Andrews
- Living in my Bliss by Nina Gabriel
- Life and Love by Nithin Purple
- Let’s pray the divine by Nikunj Sharma
- Knoxville Tennessee by Nikki Giovanni
- Journey Of Life by Nikhil Srinivas
- Jacaranda by Norma Martiri
- Inter-religion Wedding by Nisha Gopalakrishnan
- If I Were a Tree by Norma Martiri
- I was born with a cry by Nur Al-Alam
- How…? by Nizar Sartawi
- From: The Home We Will Never Live In That Place by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Heat Wave by Norma Martiri
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.