VERSES OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 437, 20 February 1909, Page 9

VERSES OLD AND NEW.

; TEE PAGAN'S HYMN TO THE SEA. x Wonder of-mysteries, mighty,-magnificent,: • Rolling from Ever to liver again j ■ . .'Say who .:has fashioned. • three, inado theo 4*li Mix. . . I'ast. iiU- our compassing,< - - • .•' ; •Scoffer at,! warriors, dread of all men! y v.-VoiM' thatn;:'isfirst-;in^our,::,ears^dull; land :bound«d | yVoicß that: isistrongest 'and least understood; ; Voice of the great Mother Nature unsounded, | What is the message that ■< . • • • Wondrously finds its response in our blood? Teacher lofijthingS ' Shicliiotir seer's -cannot .read : Stronger than gods in .their power divine, ;i sL.Tell5 L .Tell ns what monsters'do'.ript and breed in. thee, Tell us thy far-ai\ ays, , - While: on' the .land in our narrowsi we pine. - ;Thbu': tlyo'.JUnquestipnable,-.;thou'. : the':;Unkno\W able, Where lies the might of thy call unto men? Bidding them plough thy fields,"green yet. unsowablo; ■'.".v Caller whom nono disobey, :• ■=> >• . Calling, and drowning, yet calling again. • Marvel incomparable,';.tenderly, fawning. . .v-;-';; : ' : '^eiie'! , biivthß\-lt^Jip:'-th6u:,kiss^st;ul'-p^ief^,v!: ' Grief' that .thou-rcomest;frbm,:yonder ' fair.' dawn- . . ' ■ Oomest.in. cunnirigness, ''■■■ .-. 'Only- to find' thyself robbed of thy fief.' , '... Here' thou may'st roar, .in -,tb.y ; . rushiugs so .iy'^thuhderpus I ;^?::';^:,,'^ ' Here ; and no -f nr most' strange; •i; • ' Bound to thy tetherings, . . - . - Emblem, of steadfastness,'creature of. change.. ■ «-J. E.' Patterson, in tho "Westminster Gazette." YEAR FOLLOWS YEAR. • Tear, follows yeari .'and. down our wide-spread vales The brown, squares ohiinge to green, the green to gold; '. -The old leaves; dance before the'autumn gales, .Beneath tho April sun new leaves unfold : And joys and sorrows neither'new nor'old. . -Tear follow? years.'- Grey -gulls behind .the '/ :;SploUgh^^i;.?v^;,vK :-ivi''--.r P>Star:the "cloud-purplo:6f noons; . ; -In; March' thefployeryto Crres welcome, and tho owl to summer And. every, flower throbs. out its heart to June's. : vWb live'ahdl'labbur^ibarbourihg^riblfear'^'. But that the dawii will.blbssom at its hour, . '■■::'-iT;.Thatoiii'onih':',mU;!':f6Ubvr:' ; in6nUii - -ryeuvioU6w. .hU '.'^yearil- . : And darßsucceed, tojdaylighf-.with;its' 1 dower ; . Of star and, shadow, night's •. own leaf and flower. >. : Tear, follows year. ■ Our weak liearts could not V With, .what ; .the: grey world gives'- of dool and skaith, 'But. that'eaoh.New:Year. bririgs;to us new:hope.O:;;Grief - glides, ghost;i:;jloy*^is fleeting wraith; . . And tho one watchword of the years .is "Faith."' ■ ■ —Will Ogilvie, in.the "Glasgow Herald." THE.EAjRTH-SPIRIT. •' if ho ancient Mother, of the race,- • .. ' • . The lonely. Spirit of ; tho Earth,': • >.* : liboks : forth, and from her secret place; K - Beholds the New Tear's birth. Born m the elemental tvrifo .^:;-: v Of ; ;mblten;fire'; ; Vshbcki ;> . ' Bhe saw tho. waters, teem jnthi lifo, •: Tho land a barren' rock..' .' • ' long - aeons .passed, the - fruitful' seed . •V" \'y Of life ascendant clothed tho'land, • .'. ' .. i On swelling hill and level mead ' • . She saw tho forests fctand.,-... y. : . '■ Then,.. like :: some hideous- fever-dream, ' ..Thcrc.'roso;ahd. felKa?anqnstrpus';brqod,'.i"' Grim tyrants' of. the • shallow stream, . .• . ■* ': 2 Lords of tho. virgm-woodtr——- ■ - J ;, Xast yes.tsr.day ; : A ■ To hor since 'first- his course'.began— :> : The scejitre.pf.-the-world ;'ttr--;way, . Wild,\nafccd, spcecliloSs'Jlan. .' j : And ' sjie;'his':, seen "r.-- ; : ascend, '- . : ■ . His- strerigth : . in'- weakness magnified, . ' • ~' ■ - Tet grief .with : pride--must blend-•. "For me,". she sighs, "tho radiant light ■ Of sun and star alik'o is; gloom, Presaging ever m my sight The imminence pf doom. ' ' But ho,—his lifted face is bold, His heart- is strong.tto do -and dare; Eis"eyes a mystic seoret hold, < ■ A tope I may share, i > - :Pruit-,ot ray-womb,-. some-mightier, hand ' :. :_Js lifting theo above tho sod, ■ . i Toi-take thy : place...with, those who stand ' ! Among the elect of God!" .'■■ —B. Paul Neuman, in "Tho Spectator." ■