Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Western Australia
By John Boyle OReilly (18441890)O
That hangeth o’er thee slumbering, and doth hold
The moveless foliage of thy valleys fair
And wooded hills, like aureole of gold.
Ere Nature in completion turned thee forth!
Ere aught was finished but thy peerless clime,
Thy virgin breath allured the amorous North.
But his sweet singers thou hast never heard;
He left thee, meaning to come by and by,
And give rich voice to every bright-winged bird.
But left them scentless: ah! their woful dole,
Like sad reproach of their Creator’s powers—
To make so sweet fair bodies, void of soul.
But, midst them all, bloomed not one tree of fruit.
He looked, but said not that his work was good,
When leaving thee all perfumeless and mute.
Looks earthward, sunward, with a yearning wist;
But no bee-lover ever notes the swell
Of hearts, like lips, a-hungering to be kist.
Than fig-tree barren! Would that I could paint
For others’ eyes the glory of the shore
Where last I saw thee; but the senses faint
Thy wine of color. Virgin fair thou art,
All sweetly fruitful, waiting with soft pain
The spouse who comes to wake thy sleeping heart.