| Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918. |
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| 199. Oine |
| | | By Roderick Kidston |
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| IN a land of many waters, by a sun-forsaken lea, | |
| Oine, fairest of the Siren daughters, gave her heart to me; | |
| And her voice was low and tender, and her tresses floated free, | |
| But her eyes in magic splendour mocked the foaming-crested sea. | |
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| O how sweetly sang the siren in the surge beyond the bay, | 5 |
| Telling what the shrouded seas environ with their scented spray, | |
| Telling of the foam that flies on winds that wanton all the day | |
| Out beyond the far horizon, where the wan white horses play: | |
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| ‘Come away, the night is sinking in the bosom of the deep, | |
| And the dewy air that flowers are drinking in their quiet sleep | 10 |
| Breathes of Beauty unabating, eyes of love that glance and peep, | |
| Lips of joy for thee awaiting, where the dim day-shadows sweep. | |
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| ‘Come away, the moon is falling from the course that she has run, | |
| And the cheerless birds of night are calling to the morning sun; | |
| Come, for night is nearly over, stars are fading one by one, | 15 |
| Yearn’st thou, restless-hearted rover? Come away, the night is done.’ | |
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| ‘All thy life is weary day-time, all thy soul is full of pain, | |
| Never, never comes the golden may-time to thy heart again.’ | |
| (Stole her voice upon my dreaming, like the sound of summer rain, | |
| Like the jewelled tides a-streaming onward to the silver main.) | 20 |
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| Fairest of the Siren-daughters, siren voice of Poesy, | |
| From the lonely land of many waters I will follow thee: | |
| For my weary soul is yearning, and my spirit longs to be | |
| Like the sun and stars returning, like the winds and waters—free. | |
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