Reverberations :: :: University of Virginia Library

This poem was intended as a censure of the Mammon-worship of the age. In it the false ideal is contrasted with the true. The privations and sufferings of the gold-hunters in or about 1848, as reported in the newspapers, were appalling. I have endeavoured to portray the actual scenery of the country traversed, as well as the description of others enabled me to do so. The reader will remark, in particular, the poetic purpose which the Fata Morgana is made to subserve.

So now the Golden Age is come,
The Golden Country lies before us;
We leave the plough, we quit the loom,
And merrily we chant in chorus,
“The Golden Country lies before us.”

Away, away! across the sea,
Through forest lone and wild savannah,
With fearless heart and footstep free,
And fed with joy's celestial manna,
We cross the lone and wild savannah.

Away, away! our hope burns bright,
The Golden Country lies before us,
Nor rest by day nor sleep by night,
But forward still, and chant in chorus,
“The Golden Country lies before us.”

128

We travel through a lordly land,
A land of dream, a realm of fairy;
Here shine white lakes, and near them stand
Tall trees of graceful shape and airy,
All mirrored in those lakes of fairy.

Fata Morgana. This poem was intended as a censure of the Mammon-worship of the age. In it the false ideal is contrasted with the true. The privations and sufferings of the gold-hunters in or about 1848, as reported in the newspapers, were appalling. I have endeavoured to portray the actual scenery of the country traversed, as well as the description of others enabled me to do so. The reader will remark, in particular, the poetic purpose which the Fata Morgana is made to subserve.

A marble city rises here,
A Golden Country gleams before us,
Soft lawns, delicious shades appear—
Yet linger not, but chant in chorus,
“The Golden Country lies before us.”

Nay! in this world of rich romance,
One minute, but one minute, linger;
See snowy domes and columns glance
Beneath the morning's rosy finger;
They fade—but yet one moment linger.

Ah no! ah no! we may not stay,
A Golden Country lies before us;
This fairy dreamwork fades away,
Like youth and love—then chant in chorus,
“The Golden Country lies before us.”

Yes, we have left the enchanted ground
Of dream and delicate illusion;
But see what flowers are blooming round,
And wooing us with bright profusion.
One moment pause—'tis no illusion.

129

Oh, never care for idle flowers,
The Golden Country lies before us;
Leave poetry for boys, be ours
The truth of life—and chant in chorus,
“The Golden Country lies before us.”

We leave the sunflower with the sun,
The torch-flower burning by the river,
The trumpet-flower to wear alone
His blue and scarlet robe for ever.
We cross the plain, we ford the river:

Ah now! ah now! the mountains rise,
The Golden Country gleams before us!
The wealthy man alone is wise,
Is king of men—then chant in chorus,
“The Golden Country lies before us.”

Ah stay! Behold those seven small lakes,
Beneath enamoured woodlands shining;
'Mid rustling leaves the breeze awakes,
The bright moss, with an emerald lining,
Clothes pine and cedar, rustling, shining.

The hills—the lakes—the flowers are gone,
The Golden Country gleams before us;
Youth's visions faded one by one,
The man is wise—and thus, in chorus,
We chant the Golden Land before us.

130

Is this your promised land? Is this
The wealth, the wisdom that you proffer?
Is this your sober, waking bliss?
Is this the sceptre that you offer?
Take hence the throne—the crown ye proffer.

Amid red rock and desert sand,
The Golden Country lies before us,
Famine and Hunger hand-in-hand,
Behind us Death, the judgment o'er us,
The Golden Country gleams before us.

We left the still pure land of dreams,
The fairy world of Art and Beauty,
Of Love and Faith, where sunny gleams
Colour and warm the waste of Duty,
And half transfigure it with beauty.

Ah! this is not the land we sought,
No Golden Country gleams before us.
Oh, give us back the lofty thought,
The vision of our youth restore us;
Here gleams no Golden Land before us.

Nay, courage! and to truth be true;
All heaven lies hidden in the Real,
As stars within the o'erhanging blue.
Yea, life yet blossoms with the Ideal,
And our romance shall be the Real.

131

Ah yes! ah yes! we see it all,
A Golden Country gleams before us;
Man, man endures, though men may fall,
Flowers bloom below, stars radiate o'er us,
There gleams a Golden Land before us.

Above the mist, above the cloud,
Above the darkness and the thunder,
While storms are roaring wild and loud,
Calm shines a world of awe and wonder,
And there is silence o'er the thunder.

Lift, lift the eyes of trust and love,
A Golden Country lies before us;
With flowers below, with stars above,
With truth, with beauty doming o'er us,
A Golden Country gleams before us.