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:
- An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Kar by Robert Browning
- Robert Burns: A Lass Wi’ A Tocher:
- A Gift poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ballade Of True Wisdom poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Stroll In A Particle
- To England At The Outbreak Of The Balkan War
- Алексей Плещеев – Мною злых и глупых шуток
- Юлия Друнина – Два вечера
- To Delia by William Cowper
- Your Dream
- Владимир Маяковский – Тексты “окон”, переработанные для сборника “Грозный смех”
- Safety-Clutch poem – by Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- On Invalids (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Владимир Высоцкий – Палач
- A Hairline Fracture poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
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 Heart That Is Pining by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- The Clime Of My Birth by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- The Bird Has Vanished by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Solitude at an Inn by Thomas Warton
- Ribbons & Pearls by Timothy Cole
- Refrigerator, 1957 by Thomas Lux
- Timothy Thomas Fortune – Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Plague Victims Catapulted Over Walls Into Besieged City by Thomas Lux
- On King Arthur’s Round Table at Winchester by Thomas Warton
- Ode To Sleep by Thomas Warton
- My Precious Girl by Tiffany Ann Monroe
- My Miracle Valentine by Tirtha Raj Baral (Sanu Punatare)
- Mother Earth; Her Beauty And Her Destruction by TMBedell
- Motel Seedy by Thomas Lux
- Marine Snow At Mid-Depths And Down by Thomas Lux
- Lucky by Thomas Lux
- Love’s Divinest Power by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Love of the heart by Timileyin Gabriel Olajuwon
- Just A Dance by Tiffany M
- Thomas Lux – Thomas Lux
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.