[Editor: This poem by Philip Durham Lorimer was published in Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, 1901.]
In Memoriam: M. A. U. D.
’Tis o’er, and though the vision’s fled,
I still can feel a silent bliss
Borne from the regions of the dead,
The pathos of a dying kiss.
For years I longed to feel with thee
One happy thrill, had time but given
An hour of that fine ecstasy
That antedates a lover’s heaven !
More bravely could I then have borne
This weight of sorrow on my brow !
Less deep the trace of time had worn
Where grief has left its shadow now.
In years when yet the Summer’s breath
Our hearts enthroned in one glad hour.
How oft my soul, unfearing death.
Showed forth to thee its noblest power !
With thee — in presence of our God !
’Tis o’er ; and all I loved is here ;
Bough, with the blossom ’neath the sod
Deep in the grave, where yet no tear
Can ease the anguish of the mind ;
Ah ! why did beauty, all forlorn,
Appear in loveliness refined,
To cease when life had passed its morn ?
* * *
Her mortal dust is laid in earth.
But she I loved cannot decay ;
Her beauty real in Heaven had birth,
Though her pure form is turned to clay.
But clasped unto her virgin breast
She holds the white rose of my love ;
And, though in darkness she must rest.
We both shall see that flower above !
In faith and meekness Death she met ;
The pureness of her beauty gave
A radiance round her memory yet.
That lights the darkness of the grave !
1869.
Source:
E. A. Petherick (editor). Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, William Clowes and Sons, London, 1901, pages 73-74
The Institute of Australian Culture
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