BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1551, 21 September 1912, Page 9

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

VERSES OLD AND 'NEW. IN SUNNY PICCADILLY. ■ ' In sunny Piccadilly, When folks aro put of town, I t like to go with Willie, ■Walking up and down. Before tho leaves turn brown, . My Willie , is not wealthy, And I must work all day, ; Yet all tho week wo'ro thinking On happy Saturday, " When comes our time for play. - Tor then wo like to wander :Down pavenjents clean and.wide, : And dream we're always idle, ;And always syle by side, With nothing to divide. ' ' Or in the Park we loiter Beneath great shady, trees, . Where each small twinkling leaflet. . Tells me glad histories— ■ Yet mine's more bright than these, Then sudden falls a silence, ' And, though the sky 15 clear, ■ A cloud comes o'er the pathway, • I'or parting-time is near, ■ To take from me my dear. ... The sun his gold has spent now; • He shared with us tho best, And'Willie, see, is wealthy, , ' • And I'm in splendour dressed, All from the purplewest. So. oft in Piccadilly, ' Before the leaves turn brown, I,like to go with Willie, .", Walking up.and down, : •When folks are out of town. .. . -.- . ,-' —W. J. Cameron. ;' LURES IMMORTAL.fja.dly. apparently frustrate, life hangs above us,-- ■ ■ ■■ . Cruel, dark,'- unexplained-; ' Yet still the immortal through mortal in- ■. .cessahtly 1 pierces .-■•'.' With calls, with appeals, and with lures. Lure- of the sinking sun, into undreamed islands,- , " ~; ,; • . .' ~ .. . ' Fortune,-far in the West;" . ' ' Lure of the stars, with speechless news o'erbrimming, '■ . ( With' language of- darted-light; Of the sea-jlory of opening lids of Aurora, Ushering eyes of• the' dawn;' • Of the callow, bird in. tho matin darkness .calling, /.- • ■■■•. ' Chorus of drowsy charm; Of the wind, south-west, with whispering leaves illumined,' Solemn gold of "the woods; Of the intimate breeza' of" noon deep- ~ charged with, a.'.message, .. , 'iToW flear,' af times, unto: speech! Of, the.sea, that soul of-a. poet a-yearn ' ' ■:' for expression,: . . . ■ v For ever yearning in vain! Hoarse o'er~the "shingle with loud, un- . uttered meanings, ', :. , Hnrling on caverns his heart.. ' "• Of the summer night, what to communi-'. ; cate,., eager?. . . .' Perchaiico the'secret of peace. The lure of the silver to gold, of the : ;•.,: pale'irato colour, , ■■..'■ ■;> Of the seen to the real unseen; ■' Of voices away to the voiceless, of sound unto silence, ■-, '' ' ' '. ■ •" l Of words to a wordless calnuOf music, doomed unto wandoring, still returning -.;..- Ever to heaven and home; Thellire of the beautiful woman through ■ ..flesh unto'spirit, a smile unto endless light;' Of the,flight of a bird thro' evening over-' the' marsh-land, ' ■" Lingering in heaven alone; Of the vessel disappearing over the sea-

_.rnarge, ■ •■ ■ ■ ,■■ • -. ■ . • With' him or with her that wo lore-; Of tho sudden touch "in the hand of a . _ friend or a maiden, '.-•. /...'..., Thrilling ,up to the stars. '- : ■'. . Thej appftiijswyh* Mth of: a Mdjer. {Me ■'■ mo'(m"jUsPrising, *^* i M«^v Kindling the battlefield; v-;-' : V Of the cup of'watery refused by the thirstm<r Sidney,., ' ! Withtho final pang athirst; : ' Of, the crncified ,Christ, , -yet lo those arms ■ .extended, : :, v.- •■■■ -■■•:.. "■■■'• Wide, as a' world to embrace; " And last, and grandest, the lure.' the in- . vitation, . 7 .-, . And sacred wooing : of.Death'; /■ : -"-' Unto what regions, or heavens, or =ol- - '.emn spaces, . ■■•■■'. ..-■. .". . . Who,;- but the; dying,- .can .tell ?. .- : : ■ '■;' .■"'...;■•■. •■'"'," ■ ■ ; -Stephen -Phillips.