The Reaper Stood By [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 Reaper Stood By

A beautiful face ;
’Twas lit by the op’ning morn,
Ranging her tresses since dawn.
Alone by the deep waters strayed
The steps of this beautiful maid
In youth’s early grace.

The reaper stood by
With his silver locks flowing,
Ready his scythe for mowing
As he stooped to sigh.
And the storm-winds fleeing along
Sang in her ears their wonderful song
In grandest majesty.

Then Jehovah’s hand
To the reaper waved the sign,
And the beautiful — divine,
Died upon the sand.
And the noise of the waters that fell
Ever sounded a sad Farewell ;
Life briefly spanned.

Ballarat, December 31, 1886.

Source:
E. A. Petherick (editor). Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, William Clowes and Sons, London, 1901, page 109