The Fallen Flower [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.]

The Fallen Flower

Tell me, Beauty, why thou’rt fallen,
Cast from off a fairy throne.
Stripped of all thy grace and sweetness,
And thy golden glory flown ?

Was it some blast cold and bitter
That deprived thee of thy sway —
Hastening in its cruel anger
All thy charms to fell decay ?

Was it in a darksome moment
That there came a deadly blight,
Withering thy softest leaflets
On some wild, unhappy night ? —

And when morning broke in gladness
Over forest, vale, and wing.
There was left within thy bosom
Love unfaithful, with its sting ?

Wallumbilla, November, 1868.

Source:
E. A. Petherick (editor). Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, William Clowes and Sons, London, 1901, page 68