An Exile’s Farewell
by Adam Lindsay Gordon
The ocean heaves around us still
With long and measured swell,
The autumn gales our canvas fill,
Our ship rides smooth and well.
The broad Atlantic’s bed of foam
Still breaks against our prow;
I shed no tears at quitting home,
Nor will I shed them now!
Against the bulwarks on the poop
I lean, and watch the sun
Behind the red horizon stoop —
His race is nearly run.
Those waves will never quench his light,
O’er which they seem to close,
To-morrow he will rise as bright
As he this morning rose.
How brightly gleams the orb of day
Across the trackless sea!
How lightly dance the waves that play
Like dolphins in our lee!
The restless waters seem to say,
In smothered tones to me,
How many thousand miles away
My native land must be!
Speak, Ocean! is my Home the same
Now all is new to me? —
The tropic sky’s resplendent flame,
The vast expanse of sea?
Does all around her, yet unchanged,
The well-known aspect wear?
Oh! can the leagues that I have ranged
Have made no difference there?
How vivid Recollection’s hand
Recalls the scene once more!
I see the same tall poplars stand
Beside the garden door;
I see the bird-cage hanging still;
And where my sister set
The flowers in the window-sill —
Can they be living yet?
Let woman’s nature cherish grief,
I rarely heave a sigh
Before emotion takes relief
In listless apathy;
While from my pipe the vapours curl
Towards the evening sky,
And ‘neath my feet the billows whirl
In dull monotony!
The sky still wears the crimson streak
Of Sol’s departing ray,
Some briny drops are on my cheek,
‘Tis but the salt sea spray!
Then let our barque the ocean roam,
Our keel the billows plough;
I shed no tears at quitting home,
Nor will I shed them now!
A few random poems:
- Sonnet 11 poem – John Milton poems
- Love Sonnet LIV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
- A Dedication to Gavin Hamilton by Robert Burns
- The Basset-Table : An Eclogue poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Wheel Routs by William Barnes
- Buried Love by Sara Teasdale
- Give Me Strength by Rabindranath Tagore
- Dreamtime by Olivia Lewis
- Song. Written On A Blank Page In Beaumont And Fletcher’s Works poem – John Keats poems
- What Peace Is Like
- Вера Павлова – В ранец тетрадки собраны
- Frijolita by Manolo Arriola
- I Chide Not At The Seasons poem – Alfred Austin
- A Highly Valuable Chain Of Thoughts poem – Andrew Lang poems
- In the Nower poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Fancy poem – John Keats poems
- Epistle To My Brother George poem – John Keats poems
- Endymion: Book IV poem – John Keats poems
- Endymion: Book III poem – John Keats poems
- Endymion: Book II poem – John Keats poems
- Bright Star, Would I Were Steadfast As Thou Art poem – John Keats poems
- Bards of Passion and of Mirth, written on the Blank Page before Beaumont and Fletcher’s Tragi-Comedy ‘The Fair Maid of the Inn’ poem – John Keats poems
- Addressed To Haydon poem – John Keats poems
- A Thing of Beauty (Endymion) poem – John Keats poems
- When the Assault Was Intended to the City poem – John Milton poems
- Upon The Circumcision poem – John Milton poems
- To the Same poem – John Milton poems
- To The Nightingale poem – John Milton poems
- To the Lord Generall Cromwell May 1652 poem – John Milton poems
- To the Lady Margaret Ley poem – John Milton poems
- To Sr Henry Vane The Younger poem – John Milton poems
- To My Lord Fairfax poem – John Milton poems
- To Mr. Lawrence poem – John Milton poems
- To Mr. H. Lawes on His Airs poem – John Milton poems
- To Mr. Cyriack Skinner Upon His Blindness poem – John Milton poems
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833 – 1870) was an Australian or British-Australian poet, horseman, police officer and politician. He is considered to be one of the first national Australian poets.