[Editor: This poem was published in The Brisbane Courier (Brisbane, Qld.), 25 December 1875.]
Christmas in Australia.
Written for the Courier.
Who would have thought that one had found
The same old feelings on the other side?
The time-worn Christmas story, and the wide,
The all-embracing fellowship around?
Seas may divide — the snow and ice may lack —
Yet wafted here by lazy southern air,
With perfumed droop of gorgeous flower rare,
The Christmas element once more comes back.
First fruits of love and kindness, and of peace,
These, these may overcome both sphere and clime,
The wide-spread difference of land and time,
And jarring discords that can never cease.
Dear Christmas-tide, so full of fellow-feeling,
Rest on us, as of yore, with angel-grace!
Let new-born virtues in our hearts find place,
The higher life divine in us revealing.
Source:
The Brisbane Courier (Brisbane, Qld.), 25 December 1875, p. 3
Editor’s notes:
yore = in the past, long ago (as used in the phrase “days of yore”)
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