[Editor: This poem by L. E. Homfray was published in Australians, Awake! And Other Poems (1915).]
What will it Matter?
When time is over, and sorrow is past,
And pain and suffering are gone for aye,
When seen in the light of eternal joy,
How little will matter the longest day.
What will it matter, the wearisome road,
When the goal is reached, and the race is run?
Does the soldier regret the hard-fought fight,
When the strife is o’er, and the battle won?
When tempests are over, and dangers past,
How little will matter the darkest night,
Does the Sailor think of the perils deep
As he lies at rest ’neath the Harbour Light?
What will it matter — the heaviest cross,
The burdens and struggles our hearts have borne,
If treading the path so narrow and steep,
We come at last to the Heavenly Dawn?
Source:
L. E. Homfray, Australians, Awake! And Other Poems, Sydney: D. S. Ford, [1915?], page 12
Editor’s notes:
aye = always, forever
o’er = over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
Vernacular spelling in the original text:
’neath (beneath)
The Institute of Australian Culture
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