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:
- Epitaphs For Two Players by Vachel Lindsay
- They Would Love To See Me Dead by Mahmoud Darwish
- “Could I but leave men wiser by my song ” poem – Alfred Austin
- These Fought in Any Case poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Ballad of the Goodly Fere poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Гавриил Державин – О удовольствии
- Стефан Малларме – Милостыня
- Where Be Ye Going, You Devon Maid? poem – John Keats poems
- Sound And Sense poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Memorials Of A Tour In Scotland, 1803 by William Wordsworth
- Light by Tala Bar
- An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Константин Бальмонт – Черные вороны
- The Best Time Of The Day by Raymond Carver
- STONEWASHED by Satish Verma
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
- Path by Pierre Reverdy
- Pace of Life by Pierre Reverdy
- One More Awakening by Pawan Kumar
- Of You by Philo Ikonya
- O my faithful by Priyanka Tungana
- O Man by Pawan Kumar
- My Daughter by Preeth Nambiar
- Moonbeam flowers by Preeth Nambiar
- Miracles by Paul Hostovsky
- Mind Extempore by Pawan Kumar
- Lovers since Eternity by Preeth Nambiar
- Love Dale by Preeth Nambiar
- Loud Silence by Preethi Saravanakumar
- Life Passing by Pawan Kumar
- Letter to my father by Preeth Nambiar
- Let me Roam by Penny Leigh Moller
- Lamhe by Priyanka Tungana
- It is raining! by Preeth Nambiar
- It’s the Wrong Address by peggy boone
- Infinite Journey by Pawan Kumar
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.