BETTER THOUGHTS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 201, 21 June 1878, Page 3

BETTER THOUGHTS.

DM you not hear that sound,, dear, From out these shadows great ? Was it not like a siejh, dear, Drawn from the breast of Fate ? The shadow of 6ome danger May cast itself before; I feel, though how I know not, That we may meet no more. Vain fancies these are, dearest, let me kiss them all away; I'm sure that your .endearments my troubles oft allay. When you feel my arm around you, you should cast away your fears, My heart's hope is to guard you and to wipe away your tears. ; Oh, while you're with me, darling, No trouble can assail: It's when you're absent from me My heart begins to fail ; I feel no danger ever When pillowod on your breast; Your presence soothes me always, And sets my heart at rest; You calm my troubled feelings, As Jesus did the sea On that rough and stormy night On turbid Galilee. But what could be that sound, love ? 'Twas like a breath or sigh, As if those, rustling poplars Were sighing ere they die. It may be dear, the spirit of some loved one far away That has come back to revisit its old tryst, for who can say But what the air is full of spirit memories of the past, That pervade the evening stillnessand ride the tempest blast? Have you never thought, my love, when you saw the sea-mist rise, And its mystic shapes entwining in strange . forms before your eyes, That they might all be dwellers in some unknown spirit-land,

And in a weird mysterious dance were linking hand-in-hand ?

No love, I never thought so; My fancy's not so bright As yours, for when together Yours soon soars out of sight; But if there are such spirits, I think that they must be Good angels, who are senilis Amid our misery ; •

Whose wings brush o'er our faces ; Whose light.hands on our head, Although we cannot feel them, To better thoughts have led ; Who bring us to our Saviour, As he alone can save Us, weak and sinking under The world's tempestuous wave.

Ah, dear, when I am wandering, you always bring me back To good and holy thoughts, when I have lost the proper track ; When groping in the darkness, you are sure to bring me light, When wrapped up in the dark mysterious shadows of the night; When strange forms come out to greet me, and take me by the hand With cold and clammy fingers, and I follow their command ; Till you, my guiding spirit, with your peaceful face and calm Dispel them, as the sun the mist, and lead me out of harm. X. T. P.