This poem was originally published in the Weekly Examiner on Saturday 10 August 1878.
‘Lines to Tasmania’
By L. M. W.
Tasmania my own native land,
Home of my youth, how dear;
Rich and fertile is thy toil,
Thy skies are bright and clear.
If by summer’s morn I view thee,
Or by winter’s moonlit night
Thou art always beautiful,
Tasmania fair and bright.
Thy hills with verdure clad,
How beautiful they seem;
Thy rivulets are glad
Beneath the bright sun’s beam.
Let England boast her Thames,
Scotland her bonnie Dee;
Their waters are not half so sweet
As those which flow through thee.
If I ramble in thy woodlands,
New beauties meet me there;
The warblings of thy native birds,
Bing sweetly through the air;
Artists may be-enraptured
By Italian skies so bright;
But they cannot be more lovely
Than thine at even light.
For I’ve seen thy skies, Tasmania,
With clouds of rainbow hue;
Their glory has entranced me,
‘Till they faded from my view.
Thou hast not wealth, lov’d isle,
But holier joys are thine;
For thou art guarded, kept,
By Almighty power divine.
May that same mighty power
Always o’ershadow thee;
From the curse of war and strife
May’st thou preserv’d be.
But this wild strain must cease,
Day’s deep’ning into night;
Evening shadows gather round,
I cannot see to write.
Yet one more word for thee,
Tasmania, much lov’d isle;
‘Tis this, that God may let thee
Prosper beneath His smile.
‘Lines to Tasmania’. Weekly Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1872 – 1878), 10 Aug 1878, page 3. Retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/233682145.
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Poet’s Corner is a quaint and quirky section of The Tasmanian Times. It has been designed to offer a haven to those who relish and immerse themselves in the sheer joy and pleasure emanating from English verse. Our idea is to share poems published in Tasmania during the early years of British arrival.
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