Sheoaks That Sigh When the Wind Is Still
Sheoaks That Sigh When the Wind Is Still - meaning Summary
Persistent Questions of Hope
Lawson frames a series of plaintive, rhetorical questions about the Australian bush and human feeling—sheoaks, ridges, dead hopes, distance and resentment—linking landscape images with persistent longing and quiet endurance. The repeated refrain As you make it, and what you will
suggests personal responsibility or acceptance amid uncertainty. The poem balances melancholy with a stoic sense that life’s shape depends on human response.
Why are the sheoaks forever sighing? (Sheoaks that sigh when the wind is still) Why are the dead hopes forever dying? (Dead hopes that died and are with us still.) As you make it and what you will. Why are the ridges forever waiting? Ridges that waited ere one man came, Still by the towns with their life vibrating Lonely ridges that wait the same. Ridges and gullies without a name. Why is the strong heart forever peering Into the future that speaks no ill? Why is the kind heart forever cheering, Even at times when the fears are still? As you make it, and what you will. Why is the distance forever drawing? (The wide horizon is round us still!) Why is resentment forever gnawing Against a world that may mean no ill? Why are so many forever sawing On strings that rasp and can never thrill Soothe or thrill? As you make it, and what you will.
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