:: From the Archives

(above) Maud McLaren nee Power, from the Dingley Dell collection

In the spacious and tranquil surroundings of Robert Power's Toorak home Myrnong Gordon was a welcome guest. In October or November 1869, Gordon wrote the poem A Song of Autumn for five-year-old Maude Power who picked flowers with him in the garden and queried where they went when picked, along with the fallen leaves.

A Song of Autumn

'WHERE shall we go for our garlands glad

At the falling of the year,

When the burnt-up banks are yellow and sad,

When the boughs are yellow and sere ?

Where are the old ones that once we had,

And when are the new ones near ?

What shall we do for our garlands glad

At the falling of the year ?'

'Child ! can I tell where the garlands go ?

Can I say where the lost leaves veer

On the brown-burnt banks, when the wild winds blow,

When they drift through the dead-wood drear ?

Girl ! when the garlands of next year glow,

You may gather again, my dear—

But I go where the last year's lost leaves go

At the falling of the year.'

Published in 'Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes' (1870).