| |
| IN a forest, far away, | |
| One small creeklet, day by day, | |
| Murmurs only this sad lay: | |
| ‘Peace be with thee, Lilian.’ | |
| |
| One old box-tree bends his head, | 5 |
| One broad wattle shades her bed, | |
| One lone magpie mourns the dead: | |
| ‘Peace be with thee, Lilian.’ | |
| |
| Echoes come on every breeze, | |
| Sighing through the ancient trees, | 10 |
| Whisp’ring in their melodies: | |
| ‘Peace be with thee, Lilian.’ | |
| |
| Mellow sunbeams, morn and eve, | |
| Quick to come and slow to leave, | |
| Kiss the quilt where daisies weave | 15 |
| Rich designs o’er Lilian. | |
| |
| When the dying blossoms cling | |
| To the skirts of parting Spring, | |
| Wattle-boughs and branches fling | |
| Showers of gold o’er Lilian. | 20 |
| |
| When the Summer moon mounts high, | |
| Queen of all the speckless sky, | |
| Shafts of silver softly lie | |
| O’er the grave of Lilian. | |
| |
| Mystic midnight voices melt | 25 |
| Through each leafy bower and belt, | |
| Round the spot where friends have knelt— | |
| ‘Peace be with thee, Lilian.’ | |
| |
| Far away from town and tower, | |
| Sleeping in a leafy bower, | 30 |
| Withered lies the forest flower— | |
| ‘Peace be with thee, Lilian.’ | |
| |
| There, where passions ne’er intrude, | |
| There, where Nature has imbued | |
| With her sweets the solitude, | 35 |
| Rests the form of Lilian. | |
| |
| Dear old forest o’er the sea, | |
| Home of Nature’s euphony, | |
| Pour thy requiem psalmody | |
| O’er the grave of Lilian. | 40 |
| |
| Guard that daisy-quilted sod: | |
| Thou hast there no common clod; | |
| Keep her ashes safe; for God | |
| Makes but few like Lilian. | |
| |
| Sceptics ask me: ‘Is that clay | 45 |
| In the forest far away | |
| Part of her?’—I only say: | |
| ‘Flow’rets breathe out Lilian; | |
| |
| ‘From her grave their sweets mount high— | |
| Love and beauty never die— | 50 |
| Sun and stars, earth, sea and sky | |
| All partake of Lilian.’ | |
| |
