Singer of pearl-purl songs,
Beneath thy sunlit skies;
Gone from the wrecks and the wrongs
And loosed from the toils and the ties,
Fled as the morning mist flies,
Sung are thy songs.
Singer of earnest strains,
Set free, O bard, are thou;
Snapped are life's cords and its chains,
Soothed are its griefs and its pains;
Fair are the bays on thy brow,
A fadeless wreath.
Singer of deathless fame
Born of the bardic race,
Never shall perish thy name,
Ages thy worth shall acclaim;
Australia hath pledged thee a place
Deep in her heart.
Singer of joys and tears,
Thy harp yields to thy crown,
Dread not the stream of the years,
Fear not their flowing or frown,
Sleep in immortal renown,
Honoured and loved.
Singer of gain and loss,
Of Queensland's fallen sons;
Bard of the star and the moss,
Rest in the shade of the cross,
Rest while Eternity runs,
And sing God's songs.
First published in The Mercury, 20 November 1909
Queensland poet George Essex Evans was born on 18th June 1863 and died on 10th November 1909.
