The horses were ready, the rails were down, But the riders lingered still-One had a parting word to say And one had his pipe to fill.
Then they mounted, one with a granted prayer, And one with a grief unguessed.
"We are going, "they said, as they rode away, "Where the pelican builds her nest! "They had told us of pastures wide and green, To be sought past the sunset"s glow;Of rifts in the ranges by opal lit; And gold "neath the river"s flow.
And thirst and hunger were banished words When they spoke of that unknown West;No drought they dreaded, no flood they feared, Where the pelican builds her nest.
The creek at the ford was but fetlock deep When we watched them crossing there;The rains have replenished it thrice since then, And thrice has the rock lain bare.
But the waters of hope have flowed and fled, And never from blue hill"s breastCome back-by the sun and the sands devoured, Where the pelican builds her nest.
Mary Hannay Foott, in Where the Pelican Builds and Other PoemsAuthor.-Mary Hannay Foott was a Queensland writer who died a few years ago. Authoress of Where the Pelican Builds and Other Poems and Morna Lee and Other Poems (Gordon and Gotch, Melbourne). Her only surviving son is Brigadier-General Cecil H. Foott, C.B., C.M.G.
General.-What is the mood of this poem? What kind of people do the riders represent? What kind of place is hinted at in the expression " Where the pelican builds her nest "? Give other phrases for regions of that sort. Write or tell the story in prose, supplying names. Is anything missing in Mr. Wemyss"s picture?
