Gordon’s Grave [poem by M. Robinson, 15 January 1927]

[Editor: A poem about a visit to the grave of the poet Adam Lindsay Gordon. Published in The Camperdown Chronicle, 15 January 1927.]

Gordon’s Grave.

Beside thy grave I stand deep lost in muse
Like some lone pilgrim at a sacred shrine,
The shrine to where my thoughts have oftimes flown
Winged by thy beautous works divine.

White sea steeds on the distant beach I hear,
Thy comforter to me has nearer grown,
I close mine eyes but still methinks I see
Magdalane kneeling at the Jasper throne.

Thy whispering wattle boughs bend o’er my head
And touch my forehead with a golden gleam,
Fair dimpled arms entwine my neck once more
And waken memories of a by-gone dream.

The shadows lengthen, and the magpies trills,
My tired footsteps turn, I dread to break the spell;
I stoop and pluck a spray of ivy green
And bid to Gordon’s grave a fond farewell.

M. Robinson,
Manifold Street (E.)

Source:
The Camperdown Chronicle (Camperdown, Vic.), 15 January 1927, p. 4

Editor’s notes:
Gordon = Adam Lindsay Gordon, a poet born in the Azores (to a British couple), who spent most of his working and literary life in Australia

Jasper throne = a Heavenly throne, as mentioned in the Bible, in Revelations 4:2-3 (also referred to in the poem “Religious Musings”, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1794)

Magdalane = Mary Magdalane, a significant figure in the New Testament of the Bible, being connected with Jesus Christ