[Editor: This poem by Philip Durham Lorimer was published in Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, 1901.]
Some Beauties of Bowral
Unsettled thy clime, though thy pleasures are sweet
On the long Wingecarribbee Fall,
No hill is in sight but has beauty complete
With a charm that appealeth to all.
Wild home of the mist, of the tempest and gale,
Yet the throne of the Summer’s fair form,
My spirit goes out, all thy freedom to hail,
Thou art lovely in calm and in storm !
How fair is thy face, what enchantment is thine,
’Neath the trees that are shading my way !
What Edens of blossoms in loveliness shine
Through the paths where in rapture I stray !
Sweetly glide on my thoughts, as they pass in delight
To a home that is dear to my heart,
When softly I sleep, there is never a night
But joy to my dreams they impart !
I’ve climbed the rough Gib, and have sat on its height,
With my even song meeting the breeze ;
Through the woods I have watched the appearing of light
From Mittagong bosomed ’mid trees,
Where waters leap up on the green-covered shelves
From the spring into brooklets and rills,
Where no murmur is heard but the voice of themselves
As their echoes return from the hills.
How majestic is Nature, how lofty her crest,
On this fairy-land opened to view !
While the low-lying lands in their calm are at rest,
With the sea as a border in blue.
I listen in awe to the roar of Fitzroy,
To the waterfall’s terrible tone ;
’Tis welcome to me, ’tis a music of joy,
As I sit there and listen alone !
Alone, but ah ! no, for the loneliness tells
And confirms sacred Writ to my soul :
No loneliness here, where Omnipotence dwells,
And the waters obey His control !
Nature’s grandeur complete in its rugged wild state,
Is a realm of delight to the eyes,
’Tis a joy to the heart, and it makes me elate
As beauties on beauties arise.
Source:
E. A. Petherick (editor). Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, William Clowes and Sons, London, 1901, pages 223-224
Editor’s notes:
Fitzroy = in a New South Wales context, the Fitzroy Falls, north of Nowra and west of Kiama (as distinct from the suburb of Fitzroy in Melbourne, Victoria)
Gib = also known as “The Gib”, is Mount Gibraltar, located between Bowral and Mittagong, New South Wales
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