Wilderness , sterile and parched, far-stretching away to the skyline,
Desolate, stone-freckled waste, gaunt and inclement Karroo:
Region bereft of the laughter of grass and its joy-giving greenness,
Barren of still woods dreaming Narcissus-like over their shade:
Alien to you is the music that gladdened Eve in her Eden—
Harping of minstrel-rivers, fluting of light-footed rills:
Rivers have you of grey sand: they curl like sun-basking serpents—
Twisting through cactus and scrub, wearily seeking the sea:
Famished, forlorn and songless, they carry no gifts to the ocean,
Carry no tribute of silver flashing from mountains afar:
Only in dream comes, whispering, joy—long lost and forgotten—
Rapture of shining kisses, radiant fingers that thrill,
Only in dream they inherit the elfin enchantment of water
That borrows the witch-moon's magic, snaring inquisitive stars.