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:
- Nature And the Book poem – Alfred Austin
- Me’th Below The Tree by William Barnes
- Myfanwy poem – John Betjeman poems
- A Letter To Doctor Ingelo, then With My Lord Whitlock, Amba poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Dreams poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Robert Burns: Braving Angry Winter’s Storms:
- if_i_were_king.html
- Николай Карамзин – Стихи на день рождения А. А. Плещеевой 14 октября
- O You by Satish Verma
- Sculptor by Sylvia Plath
- When I Go Alone At Night by Rabindranath Tagore
- A Complaint by William Wordsworth
- Memory by William Wordsworth
- The Booker Washington Trilogy by Vachel Lindsay
- Омар Хайям – Будь мягче к людям
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
- You Say You Love poem – John Keats poems
- Written In The Cottage Where Burns Was Born poem – John Keats poems
- Woman! When I Behold Thee Flippant, Vain poem – John Keats poems
- What The Thrush Said. Lines From A Letter To John Hamilton Reynolds poem – John Keats poems
- Two Sonnets. To Haydon, With A Sonnet Written On Seeing The Elgin Marbles poem – John Keats poems
- Two Sonnets On Fame poem – John Keats poems
- Two Or Three poem – John Keats poems
- Translated From A Sonnet Of Ronsard poem – John Keats poems
- To The Ladies Who Saw Me Crowned poem – John Keats poems
- To Some Ladies poem – John Keats poems
- To George Felton Mathew poem – John Keats poems
- To Charles Cowden Clarke poem – John Keats poems
- The Gadfly poem – John Keats poems
- The Eve Of Saint Mark. A Fragment poem – John Keats poems
- The Devon Maid: Stanzas Sent In A Letter To B. R. Haydon poem – John Keats poems
- The Cap And Bells; Or, The Jealousies: A Faery Tale — Unfinished poem – John Keats poems
- Teignmouth: “Some Doggerel,” Sent In A Letter To B. R. Haydon poem – John Keats poems
- Stanzas To Miss Wylie poem – John Keats poems
- Stanzas. In A Drear-Nighted December poem – John Keats poems
- Staffa poem – John Keats poems
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.