The Stanza of Childe Harold [poem by Henry Kendall]

[Editor: This poem by Henry Kendall was published in Leaves from Australian Forests (1869).]

VII.

The Stanza of Childe Harold.

Who framed the stanza of Childe Harold? He
It was who, halting on a stormy shore,
Knew well the lofty Voice which evermore,
In grand distress doth haunt the sleepless sea
With solemn sounds! And as each wave did roll
Till one came up, the mightiest of the whole,
To sweep and surge across the vacant lea,
Wild words were wedded to wild melody!
This Poet must have had a speechless sense
Of some dead Summer’s boundless affluence!
Else, whither can we trace the passioned lore
Of Beauty, steeping to the very core
His royal Verse? And that rare light which lies
About it like a Sunset in the skies?

Source:
Henry Kendall, Leaves from Australian Forests, Melbourne: George Robertson, 1869, page 109