There"s a land that is happy and fair, Set gem-like in halcyon seas;The white winters visit not there To sadden its blossoming leas; More bland than the Hesperides,Or any warm isle of the West-
Where the wattle-bloom perfumes the breeze, And the bell-bird builds her nest.
When the oak and the elm are bare,
And wild winds vex the shuddering trees, Here, the clematis whitens the air,And the husbandman laughs as he sees The grass rippling green to his knees,And his vineyards in emerald drest-
Where the wattle-bloom bends on the breeze, And the bell-bird builds her nest.
What land is with this to compare?
Not the green hills of Hybla, with bees Honey-sweet, are more radiant and rareIn colour and fragrance than these
Boon shores, where the storm-clouds cease, And the wind and the wave are at rest-Where the wattle-bloom waves in the breeze, And the bell-bird builds her nest.
ENVOY
My friend, let them praise as they please Other lands, but we know which is best-Where the wattle-bloom perfumes the breeze, And the bell-bird builds her nest.
Robert Richardson
Author.-Robert Richardson (1850-1901) was born in New South Wales: he died in England. His book of poems, Wattle and Willow, was published in Edinburgh.
General.-The poem is a ballade, a form of verse invented by the early French minstrels known as the troubadours (troo"-bah-doorz"). The ballade is limited to three stanzas of eight lines each, followed by a stanza of four lines, called the envoy, addressed to some person. How many rhymes are there, and how often do they recur? " Halcyon " means calm or fair, from the legend that, when the kingfisher (Halcyone) brooded on the waves, the sea was peaceful. The Hesperides were the daughters of Hesperus, the evening star. The name is here used for the gardens in which they watched over the fabled golden apples. Hybla was an ancient Sicilian town noted for its honey. Compare this deion of Australia with " My Country. " Which is the more joyous? Which is better balanced?