A moving, ballad-like poem based on the Australian writer’s own experience of leaving her home country
Before Exile
Here is my last good-bye,
This side the sea.
Good-bye! good-bye! good-bye!
Love me, remember me.
This is my last good-bye,
This side the sea.
I bless, I pledge, I cling,
Love me, remember me.
This is my last good-bye
To each dear tree,
To every silent plain,
Love me, remember me.
This is my last good-bye,
This side the sea.
O, friends! O, enemies!
Love me, remember me.
You will remain, but I
Must cross the sea.
My heart is faint with love,
O, Land! remember me.
You will not even ask
What claim has she.
She loved us, she has gone …
’Tis all, remember me.
This is what you will say,
My Land across the sea,
She was of us, has gone …
And you’ll remember me.
Here is my last good-bye
This side the sea.
Farewell! and when you can,
Love me, remember me.
