[Editor: This poem by Philip Durham Lorimer was published in Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, 1901.]
I Will Leave Thee in the Sweetness
I have clasped thee to my bosom,
And have heard the last “Good-bye”
Make thee shudder in thy fondness
And heave emotion’s sigh ;
And methinks I heard thee whisper,
When I took my parting kiss,
That ere long our cup of joy
Would overflow with bliss.
And to God, our great Creator,
I then lifted up my face,
And I prayed that He would keep thee
Within His fond embrace.
And as my lips were trembling
When my utt’rance lost its power,
I then felt the pang of parting
In the shadow of that hour.
I will leave thee in the sweetness
Of the Summer’s breath to dream,
In the splendour of thy beauty,
There beside the meadow’s stream.
In thy hand I’ll place a flow’ret,
And tho’ fading it may seem,
Still perchance its very beauty
Will commingle with thy dream.
As I softly pass before thee
I will fondly look on thee ;
And I know thy hands devoted
Will place a wreath on me.
1871.
Source:
E. A. Petherick (editor). Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, William Clowes and Sons, London, 1901, page 95-96
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