| Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918. |
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| 120. Incarnation |
| | | By John Le Gay Brereton |
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| OUR little queen of dreams, | |
| Our image of delight, | |
| Which whitens east and gleams | |
| And beckons from the height, | |
| Takes on her human form—is here in mortal sight. | 5 |
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| We two have loved her long, | |
| Have known her eyes for years; | |
| We worshipped her with song | |
| The spirit only hears, | |
| And now she comes to us new-washed with blood and tears. | 10 |
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| Her radiant self she veils | |
| With vesture meet for earth, | |
| And, knowing all, inhales | |
| The lethal air of birth, | |
| And wakes to restless dreams of misery and mirth. | 15 |
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| The fogs of learning rise | |
| And hide the light above, | |
| But in her steadfast eyes | |
| Will shine the light of love, | |
| Which many a gloomy dale may know the gladness of. | 20 |
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| What gift is ours to give, | |
| What truth is ours to teach | |
| That she may learn to live | |
| With joy within her reach? | |
| We can but let her learn the sound of human speech. | 25 |
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| By custom-fettered fools | |
| Her freedom will be blamed, | |
| Because by sleepy rules | |
| Her soul shall be untamed, | |
| And she will front the sun brown-skinned and unashamed. | 30 |
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| Her kinship she will know | |
| With beast and rock and tree, | |
| Wherever she may go | |
| The sky her home will be, | |
| The winds will be her mates, her crooning nurse the sea. | 35 |
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