Returning To My Cave [poem by Philip Durham Lorimer]

[Editor: This poem by Philip Durham Lorimer was published in Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, 1901.]

Returning To My Cave

Again I return, in my gladness to be
In the wilds, where my spirit can roam,
Where Nature unrolls ev’ry beauty to me ;
For still in her heart is my home.
Once more are unbarred ev’ry gate that is here,
That my soul may in happiness know
How bright is the sheen of the scenes that endear
All the glens where the rivulets flow.

Away to the dells ev’ry day I will hie,
To gather sweet flowers to my breast ;
And at night I will bask in the smiles of the sky,
As among the sweet flowers I rest.
For, the stars are the flowers of night’s fields above,
As the flow’rs are the stars of the day ;
And they both are the tokens of God’s deathless love,
And His message to mortals convey.

Away from the crush and the chatter of those
Who will only run after more gold,
I’ll settle my mind in a quiet repose
Like a lamb newly brought to the fold.
When the whispering leaves may be telling to me
All the love that is there passing by ;
From the toil of existence I then shall be free
’Neath the dome of a beautiful sky.

Aloud I will send through the forest my song,
And will sip ev’ry note that is choice,
And will follow the hours that are fleeing along —
They are mine — when I’m here to rejoice.
I’ll gather anew ev’ry hope that had fled,
And never again will I roam ;
I’ll freshen the feelings that seemed to be dead
In the light of my beautiful home !

Blue Mountains, February 15, 1893.

Source:
E. A. Petherick (editor). Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, William Clowes and Sons, London, 1901, pages 209-210