While The Billy BoilsSearchI’ll climb the high range in my glee,When the mists are asleep in its arms,When the bird from its shelter awakes,And unseen is the sun with its charms.
When the leaves are unwoo’d by the winds,And the ’possum is curled in its home,I’ll wake my wild heart from its silenceAnd gladly with Nature will roam.
The moments seemed long, and the nightNever brought to my soul any rest ;I longed to be musing with Nature,She soothes me to peace on her breast.
Where boulders on boulders are seen,Where the lizards creep under the stone,My feet on the grass will be free,In rapture to worldlings unknown.
I’ll ramble where man has not trod,Where the track of a snake underliesGiant iron-bark trees with their boughsThat are tinged with a blue like the skies.
I’ll watch ev’ry crevice and crack,Ev’ry motion on leaf and on tree ;For the life that’s abroad in the mornIs the life that’s a pleasure to me.
The laugh of a child when it wakesIs the song that is sweetest to hear ;That voice wakes the mother from slumberWith joy that her child is so near.
The mind that is willing to readThe changes that Nature delight,Reaps harvests of joy in its wonderAt the truths that are found over-night.
In the wing or the note of the bird,In the rock, or the chasm, or nook, —There is life in each thing that we see,And lessons, if rightly we look !
Where wrens twitter soft on a vineWhich is matted with ferns ev’rywhere ;O’er the pool that is flowing and filling,There’s a beautiful song in the air.
I’ll climb the high range in the daysWhen my will is inclined thus to roam ;Then the portals of Heaven are opened,And I see faces sweet in their home.
I would bring ev’ry heart to the tuneThat Nature has taught me so true,In a world that is full of the heavensAlas ! only seen by a few !
Unanderra.