VERSEN OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1091, 1 April 1911, Page 9

VERSEN OLD AND NEW.

, SONNET ON SONNETS. To build a sonnet in Italian Stylo, With interlaced rhymes, and only two To man the octave, and contrive to do The sestet with two more,: may well be- ■ gltllO • i ' ' ■ ; : The cm-ions 'rhymer, thoughho - should revila ■Tho English bard ,who iirst"essayed;'to 1 woo ' .■ 'Our native* Muse"'in' forms:far-fetched and new*— '' ''" To which she listened" with, a dubious smile. - .* . ■' ■ . But when tho sonneteer-exultant climbs From out the of discarded rhymes And show's his • shapely structure all complete, ;Bet him expsct-no praise'save what is meet For qm who on the fire-irons..'plays tho chimes ... . Or paints in oils a picture with his " feet. .. .. . ; .'. , t "G.H.R.," in' the "Westminster Gazette." • AN EARTHLY PARADISE, •: The house is -old, unpainted,' and small, But a climbing rose mokes tho, dingy wall A bower of sweets t?/ the morning, sky, And a jscreen;'from-• the.p'asser-by. A child's gay-laugi and a woman's song YoU may hear'at (time's from, it all' day long;- ;' '• And oft through the showers of the rose- ' leaves' shed' j You may catch-a.glimpse of a.sunny.head. And the man. who goes,from this '.place each dawn, J' To'a . long 'day's, struggle of muscle and ' ■ brawn, . • ■. • Bears, a heart'that is light as a bird on .' . wing, ; ■*• ' • For he owes : to no man anything. And' what in 'our world is better than ' this— - ' 'A roof, to .shelter; a child to kiss, The strength to toil, and the-soul to sing, And to owe to no man anything? Cora A. M.'Dolson, in "Munsoy's."