| Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918. |
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| 37. From ‘An Austral River’ |
| | | By J. Laurence Rentoul |
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| AH, have you seen Aoranghi rise, | |
| His white cloud-robes unrolled, | |
| And lift his prayer to sapphire skies | |
| Gleamed through with pearl and gold, | |
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| And Tasman’s river, strong and fleet, | 5 |
| Through timeless nights and days, | |
| Chanting for ever at his feet | |
| The thunder of his praise? | |
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| Oh, in the splendour and the light,— | |
| The strength, the grace, the gleam,— | 10 |
| Heaven’s gate seems lifting clear in sight, | |
| And God’s face not a dream! | |
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| In that white world without a stain | |
| I saw the new Day break, | |
| And then gaze, spell-bound, once again | 15 |
| On peak and sleeping lake. | |
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| I heard the avalanche crashing by; | |
| And, while my heart stood still, | |
| The glad wild tumult of reply | |
| Pulsed back from fiord and hill. | 20 |
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| Then, in the still voice Silence brings | |
| When storms cease, soft and low | |
| I heard God’s secret whisperings | |
| Fall round me on the snow. | |
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| And never more, by eve or morn | 25 |
| Where Beauty is arrayed, | |
| Shall you count Dom and Matterhorn | |
| The fairest God has made! | |
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