Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918.

88. Janus

IMAGE of beauty, when I gaze on thee,

Trembling I waken to a mystery,

How through one door we go to life or death

By spirit kindled or the sensual breath.

Image of beauty, when my way I go;

No single joy or sorrow do I know:

Elate for freedom leaps the starry power,

The life which passes mourns its wasted hour.

And, ah, to think how thin the veil that lies

Between the pain of hell and paradise!

Where the cool grass my aching head embowers

God sings the lovely carol of the flowers.