Australian Folk Songs

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Songs of an Exile.--No. 8.(1840)
Air--"PEGGY BARN."

I bless thy shores, my native land,
'Mid parting nature's strife ;
I hail thee of the powerful wand,
Which moves the pulse of life.

Alas ! the shadows of thy hills
Are thrown across nay heart,
And the gurgle of their gushing rills
Doth never thence depart.

I know my household hearths are cold.
That my kindred's graves are green ;
I know--I know the Church-yard mould
Tells where my race have been.

But organ peals are sounding there,
And Choral anthems swell
Where the holy voice of Christian prayer
Ascends with Sabbath-bell.

Oh ! birthrights of my Island home.
What dreary lot is mine !
Unblest 'mid Austral wilds to roam,
A slave at Mammon's shrine !

What weary doom to count each link,
Whose rust is in my soul.
Thus woe life's phantoms ; but to sink
Untimely at the goal.

Government House, Emu Plains,
New South Wales.

Notes

From the Sydney newspaper The Australian 7 May 1840 p. 2.

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australian traditional songs . . . a selection by mark gregory