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

155. The Joy of Earth

OH, the sudden wings arising from the ploughed fields brown

Showered aloft in spray of song the wild-bird twitter floats

O’er the unseen fount awhile, and then comes dropping down

Nigh the cool brown earth to hush enraptured notes.

Far within a dome of trembling opal throbs the fire,

Mistily its rain of diamond lances shed below

Touches eyes and brows and faces lit with wild desire

For the burning silence whither we would go.

Heart, be young; once more it is the ancient joy of earth

Breathes in thee and flings the wild wings sunward to the dome

To the light where all the children of the fire had birth

Though our hearts and footsteps wander far from home.