VERSES OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 966, 5 November 1910, Page 9

VERSES OLD AND NEW.

"IRELAND'S EYE." ; .. ':■■■■ A; drear, waste, island rock, by tempests -. : worn, ' , '. Gnawed by the seas and naked to the . sk y> ■ 'I It bears the nanio it hath for ages \ ' borns . Of "Ireland's Eye." . It looks far eastward - o'er the desert foam j •\ Bound it the whimpering, wild seavoices cry. The gulls and cormorants' have their . ":" stormy homo ■ ■ ■ . On Ireland's Eye. ■ '. . / A strange and spectral head the. gaunt crag rears, > .And.ghostly seem the wings that hover nigh. V Are these dim rains the phantoms of old tears In Ireland's Eye? The tide ebbs fast; the wind droops low to-day, • Feeble as dying hate, that hates to die: / Blow, living, airs, and blow the mists away ... From Ireland's Eye. •-William Watson, in the "Spectator." . THE CLERK'S DREAM.' The book dropped down, . vanished the town, he slept and his heart was .at ease, . For he' dreamed of a shore where evermore is the magic' of the seas, Where far and wide through the. night are spied lights on the ebb and flow, And dim waves creep like little sheep, bleating as they go. ' . The city's hum in his dream grew dumb, his soul soared as a bird, Bis tired eyes caught what they long had sought, and in his heart he heard The changeless- sea; .where' the free winds 'be,' where, swarthy sailors' lips Chaunt oil day, now as alway, of the wonder of the ships. Then a tall ship passed, with straining mast, • eagerly through his sleep, 'And with privateers and bucaneers and . battles on the deep "_ His dream was fraught; .madly ;-he ';,' fought; around him lay the slain— D bucaneers! 0 privateers! 0 for . the i' Spanish Main! -Walter.Riddall.. -V ' ■ ' ■•' ■■ , ; ' THE CITY'S .CRT. ; The City cries to me all day•'-■ And cries to mo all night. J do not put its voice.away ': When I put out the light. ; With stars and frost and windy things, Eternal things and still, The City laughs and sobs and sings'. Across my window-sill.. •■".:. 0 Sky of Stars, how wide/you are! How swept with light'you lie! Tet never any leaning star Can heed the City's cry: » I lay awake when past • the roofs The planets all were.strange. . I heard the City's wheels and hoofs, The City's shift and'change.'. The planets all were greater; far Than when I went to. sleep;' ' ;•. And one long splendour of a star . Across the dark did, leap. •■.•'. .. ""'But, oh, for all they, were so .'proud , I heard the City cry, /.':. And in my dreams I saw a crowd .". Of wan folk, herded;by. '• 0 Sky of Stars, though;y'ou are great, Though dreams are heaven-high, Monotonous and old as Fate I hear the City'cry! .■•■.'. «-Fannie Stearns Davis, - in'•"Harper's • Magazine."