BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1378, 2 March 1912, Page 9

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

VERSES OLD AND NEW. A BIG BOY'S LULLABY. Fairies and shadows all have had their daj', The tender glamour of "good-night" is past, You shut tho door—as men do—when you pvay, In grief or joy you turn your eyes away . . . The world has got you, little bod, at last. When yet you wore a dream I wrapped yon, dear. In all the fearful wonderment of Spring, But when you cam* I almost ceased to fear, Lest this great moulding, this my purpose here Should suffer from a moment's (altering. And now my moulding** done; a ruder hand .Shall shape my dream to some design unknown, And I, a stranger in a sweot, strange land. Shall natch the fair fields of your soul expand, And reap what fruits of all that I have . sown? ;. Yet that which was remains; and though tho world Holds you to-day, my arms once held you fast. And when at night time you are lying curled Child-wiso .. in dreaming—when your unfurled To hear God's tender evening psalms at lastListen, my little son, for I, too, sing: Hush, love is over all and love's divine. Tho world that parts us is a shadowthing (Laugh at the world and it shall crown you king), And you are mine still, Boy, and only mine. —Mildred Huxley, "THE WELLS OF PEACE.'' ("Fiona Macleod.") Far from the shore I hear the water falling, The water from the hidden wells of Peace: Far from the' shore where men pursue •their calling, And work, and laugh, and talk, end will not cease. Deep in the heart whereon. God lays His shadow— The shadow that His loneliness has madeDeep in the heart where dwells the Lonely Sert'ow. • ■ The seven wells lie hidden.in the shade. Five ye may find before your journey's over, The journey that but ends with setting suu: Five ye may find; and yet one more discover What time your life upon the Earth is done. fhen by the road that leads from dark Endurance, —The dark Endurance that yonr love has willed,— . By that long road, through deepening assurance, Your soul shall reach the well of LoveFulfilled. —Muriel G. E. Harris. DREAMS. When all the house is silent, And all the lights are out, • "lis then that fairies flit to earth And scatter dreams about. They scatter them over the desert, They scatter them over the 6ea, Over hill and dale aad valley, And 6ome stray here to me. . —Helen Dircks. ; SYRINX, : Sighing reed. Dost thou heed What they say, ~\ "Pah is dead"? How he lies Under skies Sad and gray •; Overhead? And his flute, Now is mute Cast aside In the dust There to rust When he died P In tho wood Whcro ho stood Piping long Not a bird Can be heard. Not a song? How the leaf Which in grief 'It hath shed Turns to gold On the mould O'er his bed? Pan is dead, Sighting reed; Dost thou hear? 'Tis a bead Crystal clear. No, a tear! —Ap Adam. THE SURGEON. As high priest, teaching ,an aoolyU, Ho watches over each holy rite, The flame and water to make them cleanBody, aud garment, and weapons keen— With sacred care for a sacred strife: To rout a foe in the House of Life! For blade aud body must both bo pure, And hand bo steady, aud eye be sure, And weapons purged in the fiery glow, Whenever he wars against a foe. With joy of battle his soul is rife. Behold! Ho enters the House of Life! Bis flashing blade, it is dripping red— H? follows fast where the trail has led, To the sacred shrine with ruby throne Where Life has fought with the foe alone. A* the high priest's hand may lift the Veil, He boldly enters the holy pale; His hand is steady, his weapon bright— The foe is vanquished and put to flight! And. Life awakens, with anguished breath; For Man has grappled and beatenDeath! —Anno M'Qucen.