High, clear and high, the soaring skylark sings
Love! Love! Love! the joy of life and woe:
Throbs, throbs his heart, as upward on thrilling wings
Far, far he soars from this dim world below.
Was it a skylark's voice or a soul's triumphant song
We heard in the days gone by in the woods of Dandenong?
Rose, lovely rose—a fairer rose was she —
Rose, white rose, I kiss your tender leaves!
Speak, speak, speak, O Soul-white rose for me,
Say, say to her my heart in silence grieves.
Lonely and sad it grieves amidst the careless throng . . .
Ah, green are the waving trees in the woods of Dandenong!
Star, crystal star, shining where angels be,
Bright, bright star — yet brighter were her eyes —
Ai! Ai! Ai! Star of my life was she!
Shine, gently shine where low her bright head lies.
And ah, but the world is cold and the way is dark and long;
And oh, that we were once more in the woods of Dandenong.
This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired.
See Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright (January 2019).
This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was in the public domain in Australia in 1996, and no copyright was registered in the U.S. (This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.)
This work was published before January 1, 1927, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.