MISS MACKAY'S VERSUS

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 740, 12 February 1910, Page 9

MISS MACKAY'S VERSUS

: '. From Now Zealand comes "Land of , the Morning," by ' Dessio ! Mackay" (writes "Elzevir,";■■ literary."critic of ?the. Mel--bp'urne "Argus"). Before you have road /many of Miss 'MacK-nyVpoenls you find •'yourself -murmuring "Celtic." . I -protest Lhavo.not the vaguost' notion of. tho real moaning of this .•■word;'-but" in lyrical poetry it. may serve as a useful nnmo for •all that is strange, elusive;: haunting; for' ' ail .indefinable: and wayward charm; for all that evades - analysis, and laughs'/description '.to scorrii.. Over lind over again ' you , feel,. that Miss, llackay ' miist' have been hei'self surprised' at the .music that .comes not.at auy.inants'bidding,'that. is beyond: the cunning of conscious art; •• tho' musio of tho distant horns of Elfland; tho music that we fancy, must/have made uitself:.heard, in ,many 1 a- Highland :'kepning.' - Thero'.is surely a'; haunting quality in such verso as this-.— J ; -v "October .will- rido. in:. a. mantle o'" the. vuir, • . .-, . : With,-, the "flower o'. the'.quince in her dew-wet hair; , October will rido to the gates of' the (lay, With the.bluebells ringing .on her!mai- •:' den .way;,:.- '•','-./'./. l)or October,' October's, tho. lady,'-o' the' .". yar." : ■ ■'. •; s!.'-y..!,'/.;,/ : , ■!';-/ 1 ..Of,-in. this: -.. .. .' ,V ; - - '""L.: "I camo to your t'own, my'love, . : , "'.And you,wero; away, away!.Y'. v ,' '.. ■ I-.said; . 'She' is ..with the Queen's maidens; They, tarry:'long at.itheir'play:' - . They are. stringing her words like pearls,; 'io throw to the dukes, and. earls.',. Biit, 0 tho pity! ; . I .had but a morn of • windy red, . To-..'coiiie to, tl;o v ybu.iwere. ■.' bred, ;■ i And you were .away, away!" .:

Or, again, ill this;—; "Here's ,',to. /the "selves■; we.' shall never,' Viieveivbb!/v. .

We're!- the .drift'., -.of:;' world and,'the tangle;of the sea. ;'!. It's far beyond tho Pleiad, it's out be-

yond'tho sun . . . .' •, !. Whc-re/the rootless ;shall be. rooted when

"'.the'.wander-year.is doue.',' ' But, 'after all/ it is very unfair to tear s.tanzas from ,their .context in this "way; ami; tho best : ,of: Miss "Mackay's poems; though .short, are too long', for quotation' ill full. Buy the book, ky all- means; aiid' you will see. '. Assuredly' Hiss Mac--kdyls .voice is . one. of.! Hie. clearest, purest, and, freshest -in our. southern, chorus, fr;