Four Dark Thoughts [poem by Philip Durham Lorimer]

[Editor: This poem by Philip Durham Lorimer was published in Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, 1901.]

Four Dark Thoughts

At Morn, when first the light of day
Dispels the clouds of night,
And Beauty in her sweet array
Of dew-drops sparkles bright ;
When fairest tints of loveliness
Burst forth in fragrant bloom —
I wander then to scatter, love,
Their beauty o’er thy tomb.

At Noon, when Time a quiet brings
To ease the troubled brow,
And Nature breathes a living smile
Upon each flow’ry bough,
And everywhere the warbling birds
Have ceased their morning song, —
Then for the echo of thy voice
I listen — listen long.

At Twilight — when we met in love,
And breathed our vows in tears —
Our only joy it seem’d on earth
We wished to last for years ;
The shades still cast their silent charms,
But, oh I they left no spell,
A dreary hour the twilight now ;
The hour we lov’d so well.

At Midnight, in a sleepless hour,
My soul doth flee from me,
And flutters o’er thy tomb to pass
A blissful hour with thee.
And oh ! the stillness of thy rest
Stays memory on its wing,
And sorrow for a while doth lose
Death’s sharp and bitter sting.

Oh, give me all remembrance brings,
I ask no more of Fate,
Rich laden on the wings of love.
To bless my low estate.
Then to the earth, love, I will sink,
When years have breathed on me
The memory of gladness past,
A link — death-linked to thee.

January, 1871.

Source:
E. A. Petherick (editor). Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, William Clowes and Sons, London, 1901, pages 81-82