A Midsummer Noon in the Australian Forest

A Midsummer Noon in the Australian Forest by Charles Harpur (1813-1868)

Not a sound disturbs the air,

There is quiet everywhere;
Over plains and over woods
What a mighty stillness broods!

All the birds and insects keep
Where the coolest shadows sleep;
Even the busy ants are found
Resting in their pebbled mound;
Even the locust clingeth now
Silent to the barky bough:
Over hills and over plains
Quiet, vast and slumbrous, reigns.

Only there's a drowsy humming
From the yon warm lagoon slow coming:
'Tis the dragon-hornet - see!
All bedaubed resplendently.

O 'tis easeful here to lie
Hidden from noon's scorching eye,
In this grassy cool recess
Musing thus of quietness.