VERSES OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1413, 13 April 1912, Page 9

VERSES OLD AND NEW.

SOIL AND SEED. ttm. snslaves to sense his -oul, Who of this life makes flesh the whole By thoso destroyed at last shall be! And whoso lauds tho spirit till He scorns the flesh that works its will, But darker makes life's mystery. Bnt ho who soul and sense doth know As seed and soil, life's flower shall grow To blossom everlastingly. ' —Habberton Lulham. THE RICH WOMAN. Hay in tho haggard and cows in the We fire 1S its store for "the am I wanting my heart's deep Linen new woven and meal in the chest, wes"t -*- 1 bou ? ht in the But sorra a babe I can rock on my breast. Money laid by and a parcel of land, stand"-— bour ' tlle house where I But GodI! for a child that would clutch at my hand. Milk and fresh butter and flour to spare, Ihe chickens, the goats, an' tho turkeys to rare, J But never a little wee child I oan care. The beggar goes by, a babe in hor shawl A wee one streels after and runs at her . call, . 'Tis 1 am a beggar, and she that has all. Gfod send'me a child with the sorrow and , pajii, let him waken the . quiet and squander tho gam, i'or I'm counting my riohes and plentv ' in vain. . J Ax child that ' will know to spoil and to . tear. What matter the trouble and moidher and care, So I'm hearing the fall of his feet on the stair. A. .beggar I am-sliall I not be blessed \>ith a baby come home that will sleep ■ on my breast? Let me be a mother, 0 Christ, with the . rest! —W. M. Letts. '. . . AUTUMNAL. : I wish some great'wind in tho dark, Would strip the last leaf from the tree. If tho last bough was bare and'stark, Who knows what promise of joy might'be, . What nois life stirring secretly? With. tho last ceroment on her eyes, Who knows what secret word rnightrun, Bidding tho sleeper to arise, ■ Whispers of resurrection, And a white hand to lift the stone? Oh, if the woods were still and frore, ■Who knows what hope of Spring might . start, Promise of Joys long-waited for, What expectation lift the heart, . ; As the green thrusts the clods apart? If the last leaves'were down, who knows ' i Some dryad springing from her pall Might give the, grey world news of the '■ rose, 1 Bid the lost hopes come trooping all j To her wild .cry, her magical call? Kfttharine ; ;Tynan,'in\the "Westminster." ] !. , DAWN SONG.' V ■ .1 Treader-of the blue steeps and the hoi- 1 • 'lows under! Day-Flingcr, Hope-Singer, crowned with ! awful hair! . Battle Lord-with, burning sword } to cleave tho gloom asunder! ' "TaAMttwto* | Stroller up the flame-arched air! !

All-Beholder, very , swift .and tireless jonr ' pace is! ' ' ' " *■' Now yon snuff the' guttered moon abOTO ; i the gray abyss, Moaning with the sagging tide in ship- • if loss, ocean spapes; Now; you gladden windless hollows throngwth daisy faces; Now the corn salutes the .Morn . that sought Persepolis! ■

Searcher of the ocean and the islands and the straits, The mountains and the rivers and the deserts and the dunes, Saw .voir any little spirit foundling of the Fates, ...... .' Groping at the world-wall for the narrow gates r ■ Guarded by the. nine.big moons? Numberless and endlessly the living spirit tide rolls, . Like a serried ocean on a. pleasant island hurled! Sun-lured. rain-wooed, colour-haunted wild 60uls, ' Trooping with the love-thralled, motherseeking child souls. Throng upon the good green world! Surely you have seen it in your wide skygoing— An eager little comrade of the spirits of the wheat; All the hymning forests and the melody of growing, All the ocean . thunderings ajid all the Silenced by the musio of its feet! rivers flowing, —John G. Neihardt, LAKES. All day in exquisite air The song clomb an invisible stair, Flight on flight, story on story, Into the dazzling, glory. There was. no bird, only a singing, Up in the glory climbing and ringing, Like a .small golden cloud at even, 'I'remblihg - 'twist earth and heaven. I saw no staircase winding, winding, ■ ®,P in the dazzle, sapphire and blinding, Yet round by round, in exquisite air, The song went up tho stair. —Katharine Tynon.