Classic Poem

His friends will look across the bay
With eyes grown sad and dim,
The bay that drowned that fighting face
And the big kind heart of him,
To where a woman weeps to-night
In the cottage by the sea,
And mourns the grave they'll never dig
In the sands of Waverley.

O the sympathy in simple things,
Like good Australian wine;
And the ready coin for down-and-out
And thirsty souls like mine!

O the bay is grey and the bay is gone
And the sea is black and near,
Where the great cliff-breakers rise like wraiths
To one who cannot hear.
But the candles in the rooms of those
That work in black and white,
And the candle in the grocer's shop
Are very bright to-night.

For some must write to cheer mankind
And some must draw till day,
And some must put down in the book
The debts we hope to pay.

The moon is up and the moon is high,
And the sea is broad and bright,
Where two souls in a silvered boat
Are sailing East to-night.