Bold Torres, the sailor, came and went, <br />with his swarthy, storm-worn band, <br />he saw Saavedra's Isle to north- <br />to south a loom of land. <br />He left unknowing his name would live <br />through ages with big fate, <br />as the first to stem with broad-bowed ship <br />the wash of the Northern Strait. <br /> <br />Round the western coast the Dutch ships crept, <br />seeking the hidden way; <br />some left their bones on that bare, west coast, <br />and the others sailed away. <br />Turned back, turned back, by reef and shoal, <br />twin guards of the narrow gate- <br />the path of the sun from the eastern seas- <br />they were mocked by the Northern Strait. <br /> <br />Year in, year out, the monsoons swept <br />o'er the isles of the coral shore, <br />The savage tossed in his frail canoe, <br />but the white man came no more. <br />No sail in sight at the flash of dawn! <br />No sail at the gloaming late! <br />Silent and still was the lonley pass- <br />Unsought was the Northern Strait. <br /> <br />A rattle of arms and a roll of drums, <br />and the meteor flag flies free, <br />as an English voice proclaims King George <br />Lord of the tropic sea. <br />The parrots scream as the volleys flash; <br />the gulls their haunts vacate; <br />and the 'south-east' fills the 'Endeavours' sails <br />as she heads through the Northern Strait. <br /> <br />And ever since then has our watch been kept <br />o'er the ships in the narrow way, <br />where the smoking funnels flare by night, <br />and the house-flags flaunt by day. <br />Ever the same strong south-east blows, <br />and ever we watch and wait, <br />the wardens we, in Australia's name, <br />the guard of the Northern Strait.<br /><br />Ernest Favenc<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/song-of-the-torres-strait-islands-2/
