Select Poetry.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1517, 26 December 1872, Page 2

Select Poetry.

WHAT I LIVE FOR. I live for those who love me, Whose hearts are kind and true; For the heaven that smiles above me, And awaits my spirit too; For all human ties that bind me, For the task by God assigned me, For the bright hopes left behind me, And the good that I can do. I live to learn their story, Who've suffered for ray sake ; To emulate their glory, And follow in their wake ; Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages, The noble of all ages, Whose deeds crowned History's pages, And Time's great volume make. I live to hold communion With all that is divine; To feel there is a union 'Twixt Nature's heart and mine ; To profit by affliction, Reap truth from fields of fiction, Grow wiser from conviction, And fulfil each grand design. I live to hail that season, By gifted minds foretold, When men shall live by reason, And not alone by gold; When man to man united, And every wrong thing righted, The whole world shall be lighted As Eden was of old. I live for those who love me— For those who know me true; For the heaven that smiles above me; And awaits my spirit too; For the cause that hicks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that I can do. [The author of the above beautiful poem is Mr. George Linnaeus Banks, a native of Birmingham, born 1821. Mr Banks has successively edited the Birmingham Mercury, Durham Chronicle, and the Dublin Daily Express. He has also written several light dramatic pieces for different theatres, and published five volumes of verses. He is now associated with the London press, and resides in the metropolis.]