John Liddell Kelly (1850-1926)

Immortality

At twenty-five I cast my horoscope,

And saw a future with all good things rife --

A firm assurance of eternal life

In worlds beyond, and in this world the hope

Of deathless fame. But now my sun doth slope

To setting, and the toil of sordid strife,

The care of food and raiment, child and wife,

Have dimmed and narrowed all my spirit's scope.

Eternal life -- a river gulphed in sands!

Undying fame -- a rainbow lost in clouds!

What hope of immortality remains

But this: "Some soul that loves and understands

Shall save thee from the darkness that enshrouds";

And this: "Thy blood shall course in others' veins"?

More than a fleshly immortality

Is mine. Though I myself return again

To dust, my qualities of heart and brain,

Of soul and spirit, shall not cease to be.

I view them growing, day by day, in thee,

My first-begotten son; I trace them plain

In you, my daughters; and I count it gain

Myself renewed and multiplied to see.

But sadness mingles with my selfish joy,

At thought of what you may be called to bear.

Oh, passionate maid! Oh, glad, impulsive boy!

Your father's sad experience you must share --

Self-torture, the unfeeling world's annoy,

Gross pleasure, fierce exultance, grim despair!

(Texts from An Anthology of Australian Verse (1907?) from Project Gutenberg.)