A Birthday Wish
Oh, could I as I lift this pen
Mark out thy destiny,
I would have thee happy now as when
Nurs'd at thy mother's knee.
I would have thee cherish'd, free from harm
On this eventful morn,
Bless'd and content, with brow as calm
As the hour that thou wer't born.
On a peaceful pillow thou wouldst sleep,
Thy dreams should pleasant be;
Would God, I had the power to keep
Thy heart from sorrow free.
The flowers of hope thy path would strew,
To walk in manly pride;
All hearts around thee firm and true,
Great good should thee betide.
I've not the power, alas, dear friend
To give thee all I say,
But hope they'll please, the lines I send
Thee, on thy natal day.
This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. According to Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright, the following works are public domain:
- published non-government works whose author died before January 1, 1955,
- anonymous or pseudonymous works and photographs published before January 1, 1955, and
- government works published more than 50 years ago (before January 1, 1974).
This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), and it was first published before 1989 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities (renewal and/or copyright notice) and it was in the public domain in Australia on the URAA date (January 1, 1996). This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.
Because the Australian copyright term in 1996 was 50 years, the critical date for copyright in the United States under the URAA is January 1, 1946.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse