VERSES OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1234, 16 September 1911, Page 9

VERSES OLD AND NEW.

BALLADE OP THE FOREST IN . SUMMER. Fra Cruchnn tae Aberdeen ■ The hinds'll move thoir ealfies soon Up frae the bracken's bonnie green : To yon blue heights that, flat aboon; Nao snaws tho tops,an* corries croon; Crags whaur tho eagle lifts his kills Blink i' the goirden cftcrnoon;-. ' • It's summer noo in a'-tho hills! • P. V ; Tho heather sleeps frae. rnorn till e'en Brnw in her reed-an'-purple goon; S«'x weeks it wants or-stagstbe clean in' (ran» ' wi' thickenin' manes an' broun, Wflitin' the cauld October moon When a' the roarin' brae-face fills— Ye'vo hoard yon wancliancy tune? It's summer noo in a' tho hills!. T«t blaws a soupin' breeze an' keen; We're wearit for it whiles in toun, An' I wad be whaud I hae been In Autumn's blast or heats o' June Up on the quiet forest ground', Friens wi' the sun, or shcor that chills, Watchin' the beasts gang up an' dorin; IPs summer noo in a' the hills! Envoy. Mountains o' deer, ye ca' a loon Fra streets an* sic-like stoury ills Wi' thankfti' heart an' easy shoon; It's summer.noo in a' tho hills! ' 1 —Punch. THE TOYS. "1 went far away, Lord, hearing tbo drums,' .. I passed through the forest with stones wild and strange, '< Stepping on the violet, and the glass as :, green as' can be. ■ •}, ~ The sunlight died when I wished' it would stay; \ ■ ' v But the sudden moon shone between the ' two bis hills,. . \ "■ Making me feel it was another. sort of moan. . • , My ■ keart jnmped when I heard a still ' happier sound; . . Oh, Lord, wise and great, tell me what it was." ■ ' •• I said to the little girl, How do I know When you who heard it did not know at all? ' • ■ Was it not a bird in the sky which mado your heart fly ? Was it not the leap of a fish who imagined the wonder of a sea? Was it not the voice of mother who called •y«u back ? Was it not your' sister following after . you?" Sh« said. "Lord, wise and great, none of - theie, 'I am sorry to say." Then I said, "Little girl, won't you sleep ■ and'dream for awhile? I hear that a girl often finds in dream what she lost." It was such a sweet girl who laid her - little head on my lap; . Her eyelashes cast the shadows long and . , silky on her cheeks. She suddenly opened her eyes, round like little drums, and exclaimed, "Oh. Lord, wise and great, I found it after all: ' ,It was the sound of tho bells around the neck of a horse, TVho ivill take mo to a town of a bigger castle aiid pknty of toys. I have many toys, to bo sure, wh'ich are broken; Some of them- were given by a stranger . over this hills and seas; Some were made at homo by mother un- ' der the evening light, When papa burned incense and read his

great prayer. Oh, how I need now some other toys ,'better and new!" I put aside my books of poems old and . !'.<said. "Bear little girl, it is not only you who need a toy new and better: Shall we, you and I, tako that horse that

you heard, And' hunt far away after the castle and -toys?" . .

fr-Yone Noguchi, in the "Spectator." THE GARDENS OF THE SEA. , Beneath tho ocean's sapphire lid W« gazed far down, and who had dreamed, Till pure; and cold its treasures gleamed, / •■ ' What lucent .jewels they lay .hid?— . '• / R«1 sparlcs that give the dolphin pause, Lamps of'the ocean-elf, and'gems - I/jng lost from crystal diadoms,. And veiled in shrouds of glowing gauze." Splendid and chill those gardens shone, Where sound is not, and tides aro winds— Where, fugitive. tha"naiad finds • Eternal autumn, hushed and lone; Till one had said that in her bow'rg . Wore mixt tha nacr?s of the'dawn, That thence tho sunset's dyes were drawn, 'And there the rainbow sank its tow'rs. .. Where f*or<reous flowers of chrysopraso In songless meadows bared , their'blooms, Tho deep's unweariablo looms With Shifting splendours/lured the gaze— Undulant bronze and glossv toils That shuddered in 'tho lustrous tide. And forms in restless crimson dyed That caught the light in stealthy coils. And in those .royal halls lay lost The oriflammes and frolden oars t Of argosies from lyric shoresMid glimmering crowns and croziers tost. ,r ? gazed, nor dared to dream What final sorceries would be Wh<;n in tho«> gardens of the sea Ihe lilies of tho moon should gleam. —Georgo Sterling. THE -YEARS WHEN WE WERE YOUNG. ' I sit and watch the weary, weeping weathw, The clustering raindrops thicken on tho •pane; I hear the waters and the wind complain 0 for the years when wo were younr tot nether. • .

The dripping branches and tho drenched ■ dark heather. Tie low jrey clouds that shroud tho lonely height, •' Weigh on my heart that onco had found them light. 0 for the years when we were youuc together. "

Time, the implacable, has us. in his Ascl self turns traitor-when I sjpfak—' oro s ' l6 n °t ° k"?«thtr" rS ,ll ' Ca we lrCTe 7 0Un g toTh<,n^, s ™r may fall a tide of such ' reasurc s as reWhat Time has taken ho cannot rive 0 When W6 WOrfl youn S t°-'-Rosamund Marriott -Watson.