Whence came you,
Wind from the sea,
Singing through
The casuarina tree?

Across what lands forlorn
Where your breath passes
Over granite and gnarled thorn
And bending grasses . . .
Ranges aloof, alone,
By man's foot untrod,
And pools none has known
But the stars and God . . .

Grey forsaken kraals
Of the ancient races,
Where the past's shadow falls
On their vacant places . . .

Streams where the duiker drink
In deep secret kloofs,
Stepping down to the brink
On slim delicate hoofs . . .

Uplands empty and bare
To the rain and the sun,
Where the bright lizards here and there
Flash and are gone . . .

With your restless voice waking
The wandering heart once more,
Like the sound of surf breaking
On a far-off shore,

Why come you,
Wind from the sea,
Singing through
The casuarina tree?