[Editor: This poem by Louisa Lawson was published in “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems (1905).]
Australia.
Australia for ever!
Beloved home giver,
Bright haven of rest the wide ocean between
How many in sorrow
Take heart for the morrow,
When nearing thy borders thy beauty is seen.
The weary world ranger,
The poor and the stranger,
Find all that they need on thy bountiful shore;
With hope’s sweet annealing
Soft over them stealing
They bless thee, resolving to wander no more.
Australia for ever!
Fond hearts leap and quiver
With pleasure and pride as they echo thy praise;
And ready whenever
The word is “together,”
To beat or to bleed thy proud banner to raise.
Source:
Louisa Lawson, “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems, Sydney: Dawn Office, [1905], p. 35
Editor’s notes:
anneal = (archaic) to harden or strengthen; to subject glass or metal to great heat and then to cool it slowly (sometimes re-heating and then re-cooling), so as to toughen the material
morrow = (archaic) the next day, tomorrow
thee = (archaic) you
thy = (archaic) your
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