ANNE VERONICA.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1354, 3 February 1912, Page 10

ANNE VERONICA.

Should you clianco upon our village You would know it by tho gleam Of tho gorses or the may-buds, Aiid the towered chapel frowning At the chatter of tho stream; By the mountain peak- to eastward, Where the pines loom faint and far, And tho little white-walled churchyardi Where sleeps Anne Veronica. Gossips loiter iu the sunshine, Needles click and swift tongues talk) Each can tell who went together, "With a flutter of gay ribbons, Down tho shady lovers' walk; Who will wed and who will quarrel; But, unheeding sun or star, Sneer or slander, she sleeps lowly, Well for Aline Veronica! Well for her to wed no husband, 1 Toiling till her slight framo bent; AY oil for her to rear no children To a heritago of sorrow, Poverty, and discontent; AVell for her she lies 1 as silent As our dear Madonnas are, With her two hands idly folded," Well for Anno Veronica! When the spring oomes, comos her lover, Who had wed her in tho spring, ' With a handful of white blossoms. For her brow and for her bosom — Such a young bride's plenishing! Mourning her as mourns no husband, Seeing her through years afar, Still so young and so desirous, Well for. Anno Veronica'! I have borne and reared my children Tn the'shadow of tho hill, Hoed tho field and reaped the harvest; \ Seen my children rear their children, In tho same old village still But through many a night and noonday, Toilers such wo women are, Have I prayed to sleep as soundly As sleeps Anno Veronica!' —H.E.W., in "The Australasian."