• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

The Best Crown [poem by Agnes Neale]

2 May 2016 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This poem by Agnes Neale was published in Shadows and Sunbeams (1890).]

The Best Crown.

The sunset had faded in flashes of splendor,
And twilight’s soft shadows were veiling the skies,
When down from the stars dropped the spirit of slumber
And laid her cool touch on my light-wearied eyes.

And, lo! I had taken a journey to starland,
Where wand’ring lights flame on their measureless flight,
And I saw as I gazed in bewilderment round me,
I had taken my stand in the court of the night.

And before me, spread out as it were for approval,
Lay crowns that were glittering like circlets of light;
Their rays were caught up and flung back like a rainbow,
And dazzled with splendor my wondering sight.

Then the queen of the night spoke in accents as silvery
As her own lovely beams when they fall from the sky,
And lie like a dream on the blossom-strewn meadows,
Or whiten the space where the lake waters lie.

“See, mortal,” she cried, and the glittering treasures
“Were touched by her long slender fingers of light,
“One crown of these three shall be thine for the wearing,
But which must be chosen forever to-night.

“Here is Wealth,” and the diamonds that flashed in her holding
Were lying deep down in their sockets of gold;
“The wearer of this shall be lord of his fellows,
Before him the world’s proudest portals unfold.

“Here is Fame.” Ah! the chaplet was fair to my seeing,
With its leaves and its blossoms of purple and red.
“The fame of the wearer of this lives for ever;
His name is undying,” the silver voice said.

“Here is Honor and Duty,” the queen whispered softly,
And lifting the crown added never a word;
While the stars seemed to pause and stand still for my choosing,
’Mid a silence so deep it might almost be heard!

I turned from the crown on her finger with loathing,
For sure, such a thing was by mortal ne’er worn;
It was clumsy and rough, with no leaflet or blossom,
And twisted all rudely with briar and thorn.

I lifted the circlet of Wealth; but, oh! horror,
The gems turned to blood drops, the diamonds to tears;
Its gold, like a glittering serpent, entwined me,
And crushed all the light from the slow weary years.

I took up the chaplet of Fame, but its laurels
Were turned into dust, and lay crushed in my hand —
“If my name must be written for ever in ashes,
’Twere surely as well it were written in sand!”

“Give me Honor and Duty!” I cried, and oh! wonder,
The rough dingy crown was all changed to my sight;
Fresh leaves, set with diamonds for dewdrops, clung round it,
The sharp cruel thorns burst in blossoms of light.

* * * * * * * *

Then with a deep drawn sigh my sleep was broken;
And through my dream I knew that God had spoken.



Source:
Agnes Neale, Shadows and Sunbeams, Adelaide: Burden & Bonython, 1890, pages 27-29

Editor’s notes:
ne’er = never

rude = primitive, raw, or rough, or in an unfinished state or natural condition (not to be confused with the modern usage of “rude” as someone being discourteous or ill-mannered)

Old spelling in the original text:
thine (yours)

[Editor: Changed “circlet of wealth” to “circlet of Wealth” (capitalized the “w”, in line with the usage in the rest of the poem).]

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Agnes Neale (Caroline Agnes Leane) (1849-1892) (author), poem, Shadows and Sunbeams (Agnes Neale 1890), SourceHathiTrust, year1890

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Writers, workers, and wages. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
Significant events and commemorative dates
A list of significant Australiana
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian explorers
Australian literature
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

Barcroft Boake
E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Died on Active Service / Heroes of the Empire [Australian military personnel (WW1, WW2), 24 April 1943]
  • Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • Fossicker’s claim, Daylesford [postcard, circa 1905-1912]
  • The Bathing Beach Flinders [postcard, early 20th Century]
  • The Lass of Yackandandah [poem, 11 June 1857]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • Australian slang, words, and phrases
  • No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Drop Bears
  • The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • IAC on Those Names [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Paul on Those Names [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Floyd Black on Eurunderee [poem by Henry Lawson]
  • Warren fahey on The Institute of Australian Culture: An introduction
  • Julia Sweet nee Mooney on Laughing Mary [poem by John O’Brien]

For Australia

Copyright © 2025 · Log in