VERSES NEW AND OLD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 533, 19 June 1909, Page 9

VERSES NEW AND OLD.

■ LET MB ENJOY. ■ £et me enjoy the Earth no less \ Because the", all-enacting Slight. That fashioned, forth .its loveliness , ..'Had otherJaims .than my, delight. -;. . : Jlbout r.iy paths there flits ''a •Pair;. ;;; Who 1 throws:'irie hot a.word;or Sign; ( will find charm in her loth air, . . And laud, those lips not meant , for mineV •From manuscrips of,tender song ■ ■ . Inspired'by scenes and souls unknown, I'll pour out. raptures that belong. , . To others, as they wre my own. And some day hence, toward Paradiso And all its blest—if such, should bo— I will cast glad,: afar-off eyes, , Tho it. contain no place for me. —Thomas Hardy. STRANDED. I'm straining at my moorings in tho choking, shifting sands. . ; V ' The sport of every roller's boisterous play, Where tho sea weeds draw- me, inland .with their brown-and clinging hands, '7 Toward the wet and shallow beaches, shining ■ grey.

0-winds, that never failed : .mc, blow out and . set me freei ■"a - : The creeping flats steal nearer with tho tide, All wide and grey: and desolate they stretch out to the sea .•. • And ,'mook ,me r .with .the' memories'.of my - pride.. . • 'The pilgrim birds fiy southward in the misty sunset pale, O'er shallow pools of gold and purple hue. Oh,; to follow, follow," follow; through the wild autumnal gale, , To palm trees.set, against the burning blue! Oh, give mo back the, sea pastes, the lonely .lightning's gleam,. Tho wilderness belofr me and above, The'solitary ; visions and the battle and the '• dream, ' The endless trails, and changes of-my lovel Give back the scenes of conflict, ,the courage ■';'and the fear, I My - The eagerness and weariness , and riith, ' Tlio eyes that .thropgh. the battle saw the • '.vision shining clear, / The'. taut and flashing canvas of my youth.V '. 0 take me, ! sea, ;.unto yoti.i spent' timbers rent ■ ••-'.. ' and torn, ■'■ / And life and dreams, and torment all shall •'/: ' ;,jCease; ■, ~••'. , : Com(i leaping in in ; fnry from the bastions 1 of < ■ . the morn, • '■ And fling mo to'tho gulf of my release! .v; —Edith Pratt Dickins in "The Port o' ■ ■■■■.■■ Dreams." " , ■ DEAD-MAID'S-LAND. 'And haye you seen that mystic clime, ■ With poppies pale bestrewn, .' ; Where lavender and musk and'thyme i Breathe soft below the moon? . ; For aliwys there,— No gaudy blooms expand, . -In the white ray, oh the sweet air V That' blows through Dead-Maid's-Land,— But blossoms blanched; or faintly blue, • Or those, .you.uiay have seen; : \\ ,Where ,an .unfinished. blush peeps through The gentle veil of green: ; v And gold that scarco attains to gold, '. . . . -And purple half-forgot, v ..- Like'vivid visions, midnight-told; . - By day remembered not!. -

These; are tho playthings, these the toys, That fill .each leisured hand,— These inndcencies. are the joys . That people, Dead-Haid's-Land. . Dear buds that know .no. sunny teat. Chary of scent anil hue, The virgin-ghosts with whom you meet, ' Are surely one with'yoii! ;: " . ; Thero sit theVslondor'spritei' along: . ' Green lawns and winding ways, * :Or wander slowly with a song . 1 ■ ■ Into the moonlit haze; > ; Some,' careless.maids' w4th 'n6:''fegretj ' ' u ' ' . ■■ . and-laugh and/sing: '. .v. ' . , And ,other soiiib, n&ftboin'erii yet? For earth still hungering. I>ny their.smooth heads on mother-knees, And sob away thein.core;i»- 1 /,... ; .' : . ■. And some beneath the solemn troea ' Kn£el'in a.trance'of pray'r.', And unto- some, delight has birth, — With hand cool-.clasped in 'hdnd, ' Phantoms .of lovers left on earth . . Are haunting Dead-Maid's-Land. ; . And some—these happiest—sway and croon; And fold' upon-their breast, ■"With little tender, slumber-tune,' v: A baby dream; to-.rest-.' •. ■ ■•■''" > Strange, melodies the 'breezes waft, - -v- ■ v., When' daylight-sounds.are still, ; . low; notes, as'though some girl had laughed, l'licker, and float, and thrill. , of tli > moon, east of,the sun, ■ . . m Tho lily-portals stand, ■ ■' . Through which that web, »of .music ■ spun. ■ Drifts out froai l'ead-Maid's-Laiid.. .•■■■;' May. Byron, in. tlio "Spectator."