Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918.

113. The Mid-World

THIS is the red, red region

Your heart must journey through:

Your pains will here be legion

And joy be death for you.

Rejoice to-day: to-morrow

A turning tide shall flow

Through infinite tones of sorrow

To reach an equal woe.

You pass by love unheeding

To gain the goal you long—

But my heart, my heart is bleeding:

I cannot sing this song.