Quote#Wisdom
Are you for Light, and trimmed, with oil in place
Quote byBernard O'Dowd · 1866–1953
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: "Australia", ll. 5–8, in A Southern Garland (Sydney, 1904), n.p..
English (original)
Are you for Light, and trimmed, with oil in place, Or but a Will o’ Wisp on marshy quest? A new demesne for Mammon to infest? Or lurks millennial ’neath your face?
— Bernard O'Dowd
More from Bernard O'Dowd
This is a rune I ravelled in the still, Arrogant stare of an Australian cow.
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Ah, Love, the earth is woe’s And sadly helpers needs: And, till its burden goes, Our work is—where it bleeds.
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And our reward? In this wan land, In clientage of Greed, Despised, polluted, maimed and banned, To wander and—to breed.
‘Be true, be brave, be merciful, be free!’