| Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918. |
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| 91. Dew |
| | | By Frank S. Williamson |
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| DEW upon the robin as he lilts there on the thorn, | |
| Jewel on a scarlet breast a fleeting moment worn, | |
| And suddenly by fairy hands into blue heaven drawn. | |
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| Slave that dares to seek a couch in Cleopatra’s bower, | |
| Curtained by the crimson leaves of yonder royal flower, | 5 |
| Until the spearmen of the sun shall end the blissful hour. | |
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| Dew upon the blackwood boughs by morning Zephy stirred, | |
| Shaken to the fronded fern by restless diamond bird; | |
| Night’s opals on a spendthrift morn, with gracious stealth conferred. | |
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| Cast upon the Autumn leaves wind sundered from their home, | 10 |
| Crimson, amber, scarlet, grey, amethystine, chrome, | |
| A mother’s tears o’er children fair that perish in the loam. | |
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| Dew that lies by mountain stream the oreoicas know, | |
| Flung from fragile blue-bell cups, when vernal breezes blow, | |
| And carillons and odours wed and fill the vale below. | 15 |
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| Gems that crust a million mounds where pauper children lie, | |
| Where the wind goes murmuring a ceaseless hush-a-bye, | |
| Yet all the while the children sing like skylarks in the sky. | |
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| Dew that fills the starry eyes at closing of the day, | |
| Gleaming by a carmine cloud that slowly fades away, | 20 |
| Immortal sadness of a god to mortal love a prey. | |
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| Dew that falls from Her sad eyes, to cool with healing rain, | |
| The hearts that are so lonely here, that lonely must remain, | |
| Till all the Seraphim are stirred, to dream of earth again. | |
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