BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1067, 4 March 1911, Page 9

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

,-VERSES OLD AND NEW. ... ;. i'/ '•. - TO OLIVE. ; ! .When ••in iliite dreorlU : l trace, the tangled , i mazo \Of the old years held and fashioned M me, . M|' {Awl to the sad assizo of Memory 'From the vaji roads and misty time-trod ; i f jTlio timid ghosts of dead, forgotten days Gather to hold their piteous colloquy, nly.'soiil bemoans the lack of theo \Sljid seasons empty of thy ~')i praise. /Vet surely thou wast there when life was 1 i ] * sweot, '' 'i\ Vi|tWo walked kfi<ie-iieep iay, flowers) and >i y, thou $aj"tHere; s, i %hen in clisfnay and -unrest, \ j TPCtk brtfisgd'haQcls and wounded : . '• \ bleeding feet, '. u '"-' i'fought with beasts and-'wrestled with ! >'i despair ..... —' ... ii.'And slept (how else?) upon,.thine unseen •' -i breast. .. Lord Alfred -Bjoagtas-. 2 ; '|l . THEY COME NOT BACK, u • :fA Rondeau to Austin Dobson on li\s 71st \ ;,i Birthday.) ) They come not back thoso days I knew '• \Vhen hopes ran-; high,: and cares'.ws're .'iiV few; 2 When through long.- corridors; I hied, And for a moment turned aside talk of Play and,-.Vcreo with;you\. ■iltpr me some rarer-lighti.they threw |o'er each grey task, and Whitehall grew *V Al spacious realm —whate'er .betide : They come not back! 'Aiid you—yStir—V(irs3-iS r -plfro.ahd- ; 'true; . Tdnr'-.bays^'fe-gfeefl;-frleiids'-''old' and, . _ne'w — ' "Greet you once morei Though Fortune ....- chicle, " ... To-day is yours, may Time s siow tide Bring days as fair, and. skies, as blue— 'Thev -come r.ot back! ; — J.J.D., inf ;the:-' l "''kwestminster. ;..Gazette." ' 8

SUNSET. •Of all his ruin'd panoply, alone-' ■ Of all the plumed pomp his quiver chose, Tails on the fields now dark'ning one by ono , ' „ 'A shaft of amethyst, a shaft of rose. Alone, his th'rali;'tho'uh'forsetful sea _ Flings un afresh . her. evening, frankmLiftsrtohim dead a louder litany, Echoes the knell of his omnipotence. > Sandys Wason, in the "Saturday Ee : now." THE LTTTLE GHOST. The stars began to peep; ■ Gone was the bitter day; She heard the, milky,owes : s ßleat to their. lambs' astray. Iler 'heart cried for lier lamb ■ Cold in the churchyard ■ sod: Sho could not think on the happy children At play with the lamb of God. She heard tho.calling ewes 'And the lambs' answer,. ..alas! _ . SKo heard her.l'heaH's blood'-drip, i'n.-tho '■j • night . ,/'ti , ./ , f As the ewes' milk on the grass, Ifer tears that burnt like firo So bitter and slow ran down,:' She could not think.on the new-washed .'■ children ~ ... flaying by Mary's gown. : \ Oh',' v who -is tSSnjofies "fh-"' Over her threshold-stone? And- why is the old. .dog .wild, with .joy Wh'o All day long made moan? This fair .littlo_ radiant-, ghost, Her one'little, son-of New-'sciipad from the band of merry children. , In the nurseries of-Heaven, H<> was all clad-in white Without-a speck or stain; His curls had", a ring, of light That rose and;, fell' again; - 'niy own mother, " And-you sha.U;.-have ,great ease, Fofyou shall.isee children 7 ■ Gathered to. Mail's'knees." ' OKI lightly sprang sho . up, •' Nor ■ waked her sleeping man; . And hand in hand with the' littlo ghost Through the' dark night she ran. She'is gone swift as' a. fawn, As a bird ;homes-, to its nest. Sho has seen, them lie, the. sleepy children, 'Twixt Mary's arin' arid breast. At morning she came back; - • Her eyes were, strango. to see. . She will not' fear the long journey However long it be. "As she goes in and out She;, sings unto hersel'; For she has , seen the mothers' children And knows,'that it is well. ' "Syrian, "iirilio "Spectator."

SONG. If you let sorrow in on you .; Surely she'll.stay,, ■ Sitting : there iby;the : .heafth'. Till you wish 1 her away. If you .see'the grey cloak of hen Down the boreen, _'?;;let you.-.olose,,th_e door softly, . And wait there unseen. For if she comes in on you ' rKever you'll'part, : ■iTill the fir6'burr.s."out. V,: -'In the cote 'of your heart. —W. M; Letts!- in» ''Westminster Gazette." ' ""