Among the Palms [poem by Hesketh]

[Editor: This poem by Hesketh was published in The Bulletin Reciter, 1901.]

Among the Palms.

To save the past by one brave deed !
The time was “now,” the place “this spot.”
Love-stifled rage importunes speed,
For Hate can thrive where Love will rot.

A noiseless step, a whispered word,
A man clasped in a woman’s arms !
The white-faced watcher saw and heard,
And beckoned Death — among the palms.

He kissed a dagger’s silvered hilt —
Her gift once in the long ago ;
Then whispering Heaven — “Forgive her guilt !”
He freed her with a single blow.

And who shall say ’t was ill or good
Who reads not the Recorder’s scroll? . . .
An angel came and caught his blood ;
A devil laughed and took his soul.

I only see what might have been ;
A girl locked in a dead man’s arms ;
A traitor slain, a stain wiped clean —
Among the palms, among the palms.

Hesketh.

Source:
A.G. Stephens (editor). The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from “The Bulletin” [1880-1901], The Bulletin Newspaper Company, Sydney, 1902 [first published 1901], page 154