Original Poetry.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 23, 17 December 1874, Page 7

Original Poetry.

BENEVOLENCE.

The heart, which at Philantrophy's high call Becomes expansive, and showers down on all, The hidden graces, in their various forms* Is sate in Danger's most tempestuous storms. As the bright flower, when morning's rosy face Rises from bed of orient to.chase The glittering dew-drops from their placid rest, Opens its petals and expands its breast, Not only that it may inhale the sweets Which lavish Nature so profusely metes To all around, but that it also may Exhale a fragrance bracing as the day : So is:the unselfish mind which overflows With thoughts, and -feelings, pure as Alpine snows, Desires and inclinations fraught with good;; Clothes to the naked, to the hungry lood. No creaking pinion, or discordant jar Tbe music of its mechanisms mar. The acrid edges of sarcastic wit Vanish before the bright and happy hit Of mature wisdom, and becomes the best Of polished .shafts for kind and healthy jest. Method and order, solely in that sphere, Control the planets, and make glad the year.; While Symmetry in matchless splendour lost, Diffuses graces 'mid the beauteous host; And blends the virtues which -regale-our sense, And deck the face of true Benevolence. The mind -whose orbit ne'er exceeds the bound Of puny self, but-scatters discord round ; Tho attractive law grows stronger year by year ; Its cycles,less, until they disappear ; Then, self existent in its tiny world, Babel's chaotic banner is unfurled. 'Robert Neill. Waipori, December 2nd, 1874.