I will paint thee as I muse
On thy journey up Life’s hill;
Courage for thy guerdon choose;
Work with heart, and brain, and will.
I would paint thee, if I might,
Tender, patient, doing good,
In thy coming years so bright—
Patriot, Statesman, if I could.
THE GLASSHOUSE MOUNTAINS, QUEENSLAND.
T Thou mighty Monoliths of Nature’s mould,
H Horologes of time and seasons which have rolled
E Ere mortals’ drama on life’s stage begun.
G Gray ocean hid thee in oblivion.
L Lo! in the archaic rocks thy feet were laid,
A And Saurian monsters once around thee played,
S Sun, moon and stars alone thy forms had viewed,
S Standing in weird mysterious solitude.
H Heaving and shuddering with internal wrath
O Out from thy vitals Jovian bolts came forth:
U Unchained thy fury and malignant ire,
S Spirits of Vulcan poured their liquid fire,
E Epochs rolled on. The waves retreating fled.
M Moribund thou, thy craters cold and dead,
O O’er thy scarred summits lurid flames no more
U Unsheathed their molten tongues—thy life was o’er.
N Now, man upon thy rugged shoulders stands
T Turning expectant eyes o’er dunes and strands;
A Amethyst islands in enchanting beauty lie
I In Moreton’s waters ’neath the sapphire sky.
N Nature hath carved thy frames inscrutable:—
S Stupendous mounds of God immutable.
Q Quelled is thy passion! In the glowing dawn
U Under a misty veil thy mitred heads forlorn,
E Ever in solemn beauty mid the silence stand,
E Eternal sentinels of Time’s stern hand.
N ’Neath thy vast shadows browse the goat and steer,
S Sphinx-like thy gaze thou canst not see or hear,
L Lovely in death, though slow be thy decay,
A All things created change and pass away.
N Nor, though man would thy secret learn in vain,
D Doth thou confess: Ye watch towers of the plain.
