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:
- Олег Бундур – Совет
- The Poet Pleads With The Elemental Powers by William Butler Yeats
- Paradise Lost: Book 07 poem – John Milton poems
- Владимир Британишский – Петербургский горожанин
- The Rape of the Lock: Canto 4 poem – Alexander Pope
- Olney Hymn 48: Joy And Peace In Believing by William Cowper
- Poems by William Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience and the Book of Thel
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Марии
- Владимир Британишский – Сравнения
- Faces. by Walt Whitman
- Николай Языков – Вторая присяга
- Зинаида Александрова – Топотушки
- Epigram on Jessy Staig’s recovery by Robert Burns
- Алексей Ржевский – Ода Императору Петру Феодоровичу
- Drum-Taps. by Walt Whitman
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
- To a Virtuous Young Lady poem – John Milton poems
- The Passion poem – John Milton poems
- The Hymn poem – John Milton poems
- The Fifth Ode Of Horace. Lib. I poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet to the Nightingale poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 23 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 22 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 21 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 20 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 19 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 18 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 17 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 16 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 15 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 14 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 13 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 12 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 11 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 10 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 09 poem – John Milton 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.