SOONER OR LATER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 385, 13 April 1880, Page 3

SOONER OR LATER.

Sooner or later the storm shall beat Over ruy slumber from head to feet; Sooner or later the wind shall rave In the long grasses above my grave. I shall not heed them where they lie— Nothing their sounds shall signify; Nothing the headstone's fret of rain ; NothingJprne'the dark day's pain. Sooner or later the sun shall shine With tender warmth on that inoundof " mine; ■--.

Sooner or later in summer's air Clover and violets blossom there. I shall not feel in that deep-laid rest The sheeted light fall over my breast, Nor ever note in those hidden hours The wind-blown breath of the tossing flowers.

Sooner or later the stainless snows Shall add their hush to my mute repose— Sooner or later shall slant and shift And heap my bed with their dazzling drift.

Chill though that frozen pall shall seem, Its touch no colder can make the dream— That wrecks not the sacred dread Shrouding the city of the dead. Sooner or later the bee shall come And (ill the noon with its golden hum ; Sooner or later on half-poised wing, The bluebird above my grave shall sini:— Sing ami chirp and whistle with glee, Nothing his iiiumc can mean to me ; None of those beautiful things shall know How soundly their lover sleeps below.

Sooner or later far out in the night, The stars shall over me wing their flight; Sooner or later the darkling dews Catch the white spark in their silent ooze. Never a ray shall part their gloom That wraps me 'round in the silent tomb ; Peace shall be perfect to lip and brow Sooner or later; oh, why not now ? — Florence McDonald, a Suicide.