[Editor: Mary E. Richmond was a New Zealander who visited Australia in 1897, and wrote several poems about the places she visited, later published in her book Poems (1903).]
Chatswood, N.S.W.
Chatswood, thy pleasant name is like a spell
To drive away a cloud of city cares,
Cooling the weary soul with country airs.
Thrice happy he, who in thy bounds may dwell,
Raising his red tiled roof, where hill and dell
Together strive in beauty. Noontide glares
Harmless through tasselled green ; the landscape wears
On its broad face the legend, “all is well.”
Lo, where the cattle, grateful for scant shade,
Stray browsing under eucalyptus trees ;
Behind them miles of forest roll and fade.
The purple distance glimmers into space,
The wattle’s feathery fans betray a breeze,
While man and nature bless this favoured place.
Dec., 1897.
Source:
Mary E. Richmond. Poems, Elkin Mathews, London, 1903, pages 75-76
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