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zondrae
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« on: June 22, 2008, 01:59:40 AM » |
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Adam Lindsay Gordon was Australia's first national poet, paving the way for Paterson & Lawson etc. He was a troubled soul & took his own life at Brighton Beach Victoria in 1870 when he was only 37 years of age. He was a brilliant writer, & acclaimed horseman. Shunning too much contact with people he would climb a wattle tree with a natural armchair of branches, where he would smoke like a factory chimney & write...& write, often forgetting to eat. His grave is in the Brighton Cemetary & his infant daughter Annie, is interred with him there. The tall bluestone Doric pillar that graces his grave is in need of restoration. To this end a dedicated band of ALG supporters have formed an association to preserve his legacy, & are fund raising to restore his grave to it's rightful state. They have an Oz website that is well worth a visit. (I will post further info regarding this in the near future.)
One of his most remembered verses says, in part...
'Life is mostly froth & bubble
two things stand like stone
kindness in another's trouble
courage in your own.'
Below is my poem 'Kindred Spirits' that won the 2008 Adam Lindsay Gordon Poetry Prize. The presentation was made in Melbourne on June 14th, & was a wonderful event.
KINDRED SPIRITS © 2008 Glenny Palmer
Away! Away! the venturer is forging through the throng;
beware the passion looming, set no foot or hoof a-wrong,
for man nor beast will conquer haunted genius in flight
as onward, on to victory, emblazoned ere the night
awaits, with hushed foreboding of discordant symphony
from Mistress Melancholia beguiling sanity.
Escape! Escape the madness coursing through the master-mind,
and flee to scale the arch-ed limbs of Wattle there inclined,
and rest…oh rest the torment, with the pen and pipe alight,
in wanton wonder weave your whimsied words with wan delight;
there craft for me your rhapsody in posthumous decree,
and shed for me compassion’s tear for common agony.
Begone! Begone vile spectres, sail the blessed dawning light
that ushers fond deliverance from demons of the night,
and stroll with me in empathy through lyricism’s land,
and grant to me a moment’s comprehension of the hand
and heart and soul you offered us; forgive our faculty
embezzling all discernment of your solemn legacy.
Redemption! Oh Redemption, sweet the kiss upon my brow,
I kneel in supplication at the sight before me now;
the battered bluestone pillar guarding history’s bequest,
the infant’s clay and thine entwined, eternally at rest.
This earth-bound kindred spirit bids, beholden, your release,
now ride your foaming thoroughbreds of Brighton, back to peace.
Judge's comments:
You have been selected by our Judge, “PHILTON” to be the winner of the open section of our poetry competition for 2008 for your poem “Kindred Spirits”
Philton said that your poem was excellent and by far the best and covered all the facets of Adam Lindsay Gordon, even to the style of his poetry.
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Note: posted with permission of the winning author. and my congratulations to Glenny Palmer. - Zondrae
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