20
ON THE PLAINS
The sunbeam and the wanton wind,
Among the feathery tufts at play,
Sing to the Earth : "The night is blind,
But we will kiss your tears away."
With broad'ning glow
And rippling flow
Adown the laughing leagues they go.
Among the feathery tufts at play,
Sing to the Earth : "The night is blind,
But we will kiss your tears away."
With broad'ning glow
And rippling flow
Adown the laughing leagues they go.
The vagrant lark on wayward wings
Is fluttering low, is floating high;
No Northern trill of rapture rings
Thro' the vast temple of the sky;
But not in vain
Thy Southern strain,
Thou brown-winged angel of the plain!
Is fluttering low, is floating high;
No Northern trill of rapture rings
Thro' the vast temple of the sky;
But not in vain
Thy Southern strain,
Thou brown-winged angel of the plain!
Here, where the days are dull and gray,
And youth has stilled his joyous song,
In fancy yet I love to stray
By creek, and plain, and billabong,
To the curlew's call
And the noiseless fall
Of the unshod hoof 'neath the gum-trees tall.
And youth has stilled his joyous song,
In fancy yet I love to stray
By creek, and plain, and billabong,
To the curlew's call
And the noiseless fall
Of the unshod hoof 'neath the gum-trees tall.
