VERSES OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 894, 13 August 1910, Page 9

VERSES OLD AND NEW.

"■/ THE LAST STEPS. (From the German' of I-rida Scliaus.) -■ .Wrapped in a dream, what time night's ;-j . shadows break, My eyes behold" a rock-hewn stairway S rise, Fashioned by giant hands, to reach the ... skies, : _ ■ . . And it was named' Poor Human Toil and • Ache. \ • .Vast crowds; of wanderers,'■ moving' witli- ■ : ',out mirth, . 1 . V Were climbing - up, with ■ lagging feet .', ' ■ ■ and sore; ' Their anguished eyes looked backward , ; and before:. flow'high tho steps, and all how near .. ■ to earth! .. : So long the hot' and sultry working-day, That many fell, exhausted, unto death; Then -slowly came, t'lio dusk's first •. cooling breath, •'- 'And- easier grew the weary upward wayi Tie wanderers'' brows were fanned by . . gentle airs, ' . .. And in the glory, of such purple lights . . . As spring day'sunsets flash.'upon the heights, • • 'S -' ©owed tho last steps of the. high, rock- . . hewn sta'irs. forth from the clouds a shout of wei- ■ come sped; With tender . healing, touch . fresh breezes camo . From regions far beyond the dusk's calm ; ' flame, ■' . ' ' A' .'And'.silent .genii .-scattered, roses, red. - ~ v !Aad here '.and there a . i face •- Shone, .gravely-blessed; out. from the little band W1.6,' weary of the road, stood- hand in ... - ■ hand,;: '' :f'\ 1 .'. V-^ "■ . Where roses bloom in everlasting grace.- ' j —H.l', in the '.'Westminster Gazette." THE WAXDEBEH. - My heart, is homeless as the wind , ,'Y' And/dark as, Northern waters are, . Jloro desolate than midnight pools . ; • That, never held a star. 1 :• Yet, ; like the uncompanioned sun v -' . That/goeth forth,from-East, to West, 1 V .Or solitary, virgin' moon ■ . , ; Arising froni her rest /. ■ i'. : To climb the. steepest, heights of cloud; Or drop upon an inland sea, V. ' -Beyond, the ramparts of : the world . I lone and free. . ' Fvo. heard the. cry ,of dead men's bones .'" - That clamour, at . the gates ..of morn; . ... . 'And whimpering, of naked souls Impatient, to bo born.. I;know, the. dank' and loathsome caVes V ; :;Of crouching Fear'arid writhing, Shame; .'. And'' dreadful, : oozy, songless. swamps, ! The .woods of Sunken .Fame. ■ - - , I've seen the -shining galaxy ; : . . Of ; mute, unrecognised worth, ' 'Apparent.failures; bursting .through': The envelope of Earth. '. ■ ■ I.know the salt and bitter strand,. ' jV,; The terrible No More's demesne . '. Lit by ; the . cold auroral flame Of lovo that might have been. . And. in: the silent-Polar, night, : With -.'ear; against' the icy ground, Behind-the< footsteps of, Despair : I've-caught, a deeper' sound,' i ' .Diffused as sccn^ : : made, audible . And- faint'as far-off foreign .peals— , \ ■ The,tread of .final; Destiny, ' • - Hope's : golden chariot'.wheels. . —Anna Bunston in. the' "Spectator."- ■ -V ■ . GHOSTS. - .-.0,' to/creep m by candle-light,' When -all: the - world: is- fast asleep,: Out of winds, out of "the niglit, - i; ; Where, the ( uettles wave,, arid the rains ' .weep!.' 0, fo'creep in, lifting tho. latch .. ~ So quietly.;' that' no soul could hear,-. - And, Vat .'.those. einbers, : in the'gloom,' Quietly light one ■ careful match—■ : .You should not/hear, it, have; no i fear— "• And light the candle aud look round The, old; familiar roftin;, 1 , To.see the old books u'pn the wall -...•And lovingly 'take one. down again, VAnd hear—o; strange to'those that lay. ;; So patiently underground— '.. : The. ticking of the. clock, the sound " / '.Of: 'clicking emljers . , 'V ~ watch the play ,; Of. shadows .. . , V ' Vtill the implacable call - Of. morning itutn-. our faces grey; ' . And,or ever we go, we.lift- and.kiss . ~. Somu idle thing that your hands maj toiich, ■ V Some'paper'or book that your hands let fall, . ";;v And- we never—when living—had ' cared so much :. . ■' As to glance upon twice. . . , - -. ■ ■ , fiut now, 0 lih'ss -'i To kiss and to cherish it, moaning our :'-. v pain,.. ,-j.- - ... . / Eru 'we creep" to the, silence again. — Alfred Noyes, .in the "Westminster ■' . Gazette." '■