Kenneth Slessor

Here you will find the Poem Mangroves of poet Kenneth Slessor

Mangroves

These black bush-waters, heavy with crusted boughs 
Like plumes above dead captains, wake the mind.... 
Uncounted kissing, unremembered vows, 
Nights long forgotten, moons too dark to find, 
Or stars too cold...all quick things that have fled 
Whilst these old bubbles uprise in older stone, 
Return like pale dead faces of children dead, 
Staring unfelt through doors for ever unknown. 

O silent ones that drink these timeless pools, 
Eternal brothers, bending so deeply over, 
Your branches tremble above my tears again... 
And even my songs are stolen from some old lover 
Who cried beneath your leaves like other fools, 
While still they whisper "in vain...in vain...in vain..."