[Editor: This poem by Philip Durham Lorimer was published in Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, 1901.]
Sir Henry Parkes
In Memoriam
Alas ! stern Death, thou hast at last entombed
The agéd man, long crowned with laurels green ;
We miss the mind that intellect illumed,
An actor great in many a stirring scene.
That hoary head now low, is cherished more
Than in the past, when passionate appeal
Helped him to wisely use his wealthy store
For all he loved so well, a nation’s weal.
His lengthened strain of energy and mind
Seemed oft to bring his prospects to despair,
Yet rose his voice more eloquent and kind,
As victor crowned ’mong all his fellows there !
We look aloft, as nations ofttimes do,
For help within now in our needful hour,
And see our God and know He will subdue
All wrongful might through faith in rightful power.
Why should we mourn ? His harvest ears were dressed
With that ripe corn that feeds the mills of God ;
His days were full of fame and honour blessed,
As with the statesmen of the age, he trod.
Parramatta, May, 1896.
Source:
E. A. Petherick (editor). Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, William Clowes and Sons, London, 1901, pages 153-154
The Institute of Australian Culture
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