Classic Poem

SOMETHING AUSTRALIAN, PATRIOTIC , for O'REILLY, MP , the Bulletin and the PUBLIC generally

not, Goethe, here the pines of old
that round the imperial Hermann's-stone
brood o'er the sunken sun or hold
the night with wail for glories gone

but straight the solitary seed
shoots skyward in untaught disdain
first in the blue bursting to heed
naught but these elders sky and main

Whose Brocken-shade the empires are
still comes the puppet of thy thought
now by the clear Pacific bar
to clearer contemplation brought

That vast receives his newer cry
still utter'd from his being's dearth
O strong-born anchoret! so I
deep-living in the living earth

would push my soul for larger breath
and pondering with unwavering eye
where on the hither side of death
the dreaming sea-line climbs the sky