Miles, miles away rise gaunt gum-trees,

Like derelicts old, with sailless mast,

Cast on the rocks by the drought’s hot blast

The sun dies down—on the dim skyline

Faint-twinkles once like a goblet of wine

Held over that dead world’s hazy rim,

And the lost man’s eyes far gaze aswim

As the tide of dark rolls over him!

There’s hope! for a tiny cloud doth rise,

Toils slowly across the noiseless skies,