Sydney Harbour.
183
And when, like sudden wolves unleashed, the ravening southerlies
Rush from their vaporous caverns set in white Antarctic seas,
Thy mettle answers, and the frothy spume of battle flies
With thundrous blows, and ringing shouts up to the troubled skies.
Rush from their vaporous caverns set in white Antarctic seas,
Thy mettle answers, and the frothy spume of battle flies
With thundrous blows, and ringing shouts up to the troubled skies.
Strange echoes haunt thy silences, and when the dim stars drowse
Thy ripples feel the stealthy push of unrecorded prows,
And eldrich laughters ring along thy shadow-muffled shore,
Laughters re-echoing from rocks that they have known before,
And things that shun the daylight curdle the shuddering air.
"Who knows thee best knows only how little he can share
Thy elemental mystery, or with all his wisdom guess
Why the hand that made thee chose to use such needless loveliness.
Thy ripples feel the stealthy push of unrecorded prows,
And eldrich laughters ring along thy shadow-muffled shore,
Laughters re-echoing from rocks that they have known before,
And things that shun the daylight curdle the shuddering air.
"Who knows thee best knows only how little he can share
Thy elemental mystery, or with all his wisdom guess
Why the hand that made thee chose to use such needless loveliness.
Thou art a challenge to the soul, a trust to chivalry
A touchstone for the human heart and its nobility.
A touchstone for the human heart and its nobility.
