Dowell O'Reilly poems

Dowell O'Reilly(18 July 1865 - 5 November 1923 / Sydney / Australia)

Stars

- by Dowell O'Reilly 47

Wild eyes—and faces ashen grey
That strain through lofty prison bars
To see the everlasting stars,
Then turn—to slumber as we may:

Even as we are, so are they,
And here is peace for all who know
The stars still follow where we go,
When heaven and earth have passed away.

Obedient to the Unknown Power,
From out the ruin of a world
A clustered galaxy is hurled
To glimmer through its steadfast hour:

The blazing sun of Shakespeare's soul
Shattered to star-dust, fills again
With meteor-flights the immortal brain
That seeks a yet more splendid goal;

And still a voice—that now is ours—
Repeats for aye the unknown word
That thrilled the heart of beast and bird,
Ere man had learned to love the flowers.

The Sea-Maiden

- by Dowell O'Reilly 47

Like summer waves on sands of snow,
Soft ringlets clasp her neck and brow,
And wandering breezes kiss away
A threaded light of glimmering spray,
That drifts and floats and softly flies
In a golden mist about her eyes.
Her laugh is fresh as foam that springs
Through tumbling shells and shining things,
And where the gleaming margin dries
Is heard the music of her sighs.
Her gentle bosom ebbs and swells
With the tide of life that deeply wells
From a throbbing heart that loves to break
In the tempest of love for love's sweet sake.
O, the fragrance of earth, and the song of the sea,
And the light of the heavens, are only three
Of the thousand glories that Love can trace,
In her life, and her soul, and her beautiful face.

This tangled weed of poesy,
Torn from the heart of a stormy sea,
I fling upon the love divine
Of her, who fills this heart of mine.