| Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918. |
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| 78. Australia |
| | | By Bernard O’Dowd |
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| LAST sea-thing dredged by sailor Time from Space, | |
| Are you a drift Sargasso, where the West | |
| In halcyon calm rebuilds her fatal nest? | |
| Or Delos of a coming Sun-God’s race? | |
| Are you for Light, and trimmed, with oil in place, | 5 |
| Or but a Will o’ Wisp on marshy quest? | |
| A new demesne for Mammon to infest? | |
| Or lurks millennial Eden ’neath your face? | |
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| The cenotaphs of species dead elsewhere | |
| That in your limits leap and swim and fly, | 10 |
| Or trail uncanny harp-strings from your trees, | |
| Mix omens with the auguries that dare | |
| To plant the Cross upon your forehead sky, | |
| A virgin helpmate Ocean at your knees. | |
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