An Anthology of Australian Verse/The Love in Her Eyes Lay Sleeping

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The Love in Her Eyes Lay Sleeping (1907)
by William Forster
1903401The Love in Her Eyes Lay Sleeping1907William Forster

   The love in her eyes lay sleeping,
   As stars that unconscious shine,
   Till, under the pink lids peeping,
   I wakened it up with mine;
And we pledged our troth to a brimming oath
   In a bumper of blood-red wine.
   Alas! too well I know
   That it happened long ago;
   Those memories yet remain,
   And sting, like throbs of pain,
   And I'm alone below,
But still the red wine warms, and the rosy goblets glow;
   If love be the heart's enslaver,
   'Tis wine that subdues the head.
   But which has the fairest flavour,
   And whose is the soonest shed?
   Wine waxes in power in that desolate hour
   When the glory of love is dead.
   Love lives on beauty's ray,
   But night comes after day,
   And when the exhausted sun
   His high career has run,
   The stars behind him stay,
And then the light that lasts consoles our darkening way.
   When beauty and love are over,
   And passion has spent its rage,
   And the spectres of memory hover,
   And glare on life's lonely stage,
   'Tis wine that remains to kindle the veins
   And strengthen the steps of age.
   Love takes the taint of years,
   And beauty disappears,
   But wine in worth matures
   The longer it endures,
   And more divinely cheers,
And ripens with the suns and mellows with the spheres.

This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. According to Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright, the following works are public domain:

  • published non-government works whose author died before January 1, 1955,
  • anonymous or pseudonymous works and photographs published before January 1, 1955, and
  • government works published more than 50 years ago (before January 1, 1974).

This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), and it was first published before 1989 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities (renewal and/or copyright notice) and it was in the public domain in Australia on the URAA date (January 1, 1996). This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.

Because the Australian copyright term in 1996 was 50 years, the critical date for copyright in the United States under the URAA is January 1, 1946.


This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

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