Poem

Wattle and Myrtle

by James Lister Cuthbertson · 1918

Gold of the tangled wilderness of wattle, Break in the lone green hollows of the hills,Flame on the iron headlands of the ocean, Gleam on the margin of the hurrying rills.
Come with thy saffron diadem, and scatter Odour of Araby that haunts the air;Queen of the woodland, rival of the roses, Spring in the yellow tresses of thy hair.
Surely the old Gods, dwellers in Olympus, Under thy shining loveliness have strayed,Crowned with thy clusters magical Apollo, Pan with his reedy music might have played.
Surely within thy fastness, Aphrodite, She of the Seaways, fallen from above,Wandered beneath thy canopy of blossom, Nothing disdainful of a mortal's love.
Aye, and her sweet breath lingers on the wattle, Aye, and her myrtle dominates the glade,And with a deep and perilous enchantment Melts in the heart of lover and of maid.
Sources, publication & text notesReference details
Canonical recordPOEM-001733
Copy-textInternet Archive facsimile, The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse (1918); comparison: FACSIMILE_VISUAL; https://archive.org/details/oxfordbookofaus00murduoft
Source recordSRC-000149
Rights determinationRGT-001337
Text statusCANONICAL TEXT READY
TranscriptionDIPLOMATIC_D208

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