| Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918. |
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| 6. Words |
| | | By Charles Harpur |
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| WORDS are deeds. The words we hear | |
| May revolutionize or rear | |
| A mighty state. The words we read | |
| May be a spiritual deed | |
| Excelling any fleshly one, | 5 |
| As much as the celestial sun | |
| Transcends a bonfire, made to throw | |
| A light upon some raree-show. | |
| A simple proverb tagged with rhyme | |
| May colour half the course of time; | 10 |
| The pregnant saying of a sage | |
| May influence every coming age; | |
| A song in its effects may be | |
| More glorious than Thermopylae, | |
| And many a lay that schoolboys scan | 15 |
| A nobler feat than Inkerman. | |
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