The Australian Sunrise
The Morning Star paled slowly, the Cross hung low to the sea,
And down the shadowy reaches the tide came swirling free,
The lustrous purple blackness of the soft Australian night,
Waned in the gray awakening that heralded the light;
Still in the dying darkness, still in the forest dim
The pearly dew of the dawning clung to each giant limb,
Till the sun came up from ocean, red with the cold sea mist,
And smote on the limestone ridges, and the shining tree-tops kissed;
Then the fiery Scorpion vanished, the magpie's note was heard,
And the wind in the she-oak wavered, and the honeysuckles stirred,
The airy golden vapour rose from the river breast,
The kingfisher came darting out of his crannied nest,
And the bulrushes and reed-beds put off their sallow gray
And burnt with cloudy crimson at dawning of the day.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 209 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGG |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 825 |
Words | 146 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"The Australian Sunrise" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 18 Feb. 2025. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/20227/the-australian-sunrise>.
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