EXHIBITION PRIZE POEM.

Kumara Times, Issue 938, 2 October 1879, Page 3

EXHIBITION PRIZE POEM.

<*, Some months ago the proprietor of the Sydney Morning Herald offered a prize of 100 guineas for the best Vritten poem iii commemoration of the opening of the Sydney Exhibition. The prize has been awarded to Mr Henry Kennnll, the Australian poet, who con.-y0:;.*.. 1 ai) d wrote the following poem, the il:-::very of which as a cantata cominen'.v.'d the opening ceremony of the Exhibition. There we.e 250 competitors tVom the Colonies, including United Kingdom, and America. CANTATA, By Henry Kendall; Part I. .Songs of morning, with your breath Sing the darkness now to death— Radient river, beaming ba} T , Fair as summer Shine to-day— Flying torrent, falling slope, Wear the face as bright as Hope— Wind and woodland; hill and seaj Lift your voices—sing for glee ! Gieetthe guests your fame has won— Put your brightest garments on. Lo, they come—thci Lords unknown, Sons of Peace, frorti every zone ! See above our waves unfurled All the flags of all the v orld ! North ;ihd South and West and East Gaiher in to grace our Feast. Shining nations ! let them see How like England we caii be. Might nations ! let them view Songs of generous sires in yom By the days that sound afar, Sound) ahd shine like star by star ; By the grand old years aflame With the lires of England's fameHeirs of those who fought for right When the world's wronged face was white, Meet these guests your fortune sends, As your fathers' met their friends j Let the beauty of your race Glow like morning in your face. Part it Where now a radiant city stands, The dark oak usee! to wave, The Elfin harp of lonely lands Above the wild man's grave, Through windless woods, one clear,' sweet stream (Sing soft and very low), Stole like the river of a dream ( A hundred years ago. Upon the hills that blaze to-day Witu splendid dome and spire, The naked hunter tracked his prey And .slumbered by his lire. Within the sound of shiiuess seas

The wild 1-089 used to blow About the feet of royal trecsj A hundred years ago, All ! haply, on some mossy slope, Against the shining springs, In those old days the Angel Hope Sat down with folded wings ; Perhaps she touched in dreams sublime, In glory and in glow, The skirts of this resplendent time) A hundred years l ago ; Part 111. A gracious morning on the hills of wet, And wind, and mist, her glittering feet has set; The life and heat of light have chased away Australia's dark mysterious yesterday. A great, glad glory now flows down and shineß Oh gold green' lands where waved funereal pine's. And hence a fair dream goes before our giirie, . And lifts the skirts of the hereafter days, And sees afar, as dreams alone can see, The splendid marvel of the years to be* Pabt IY. Father, All Bountiful, humbly we bend to Thee ; Heads are uncovered in sight of Thy face. Here in the* flow of the Psalms' that ascend to Thee, Teach ns to live for the light of thy grace. Here, in the pause of the anthems of . . praise. to Thee, Master afld Maker, pre-eminent friend, Teach us to look to Thee—give all our days to Thee, Now and for evermore, world without end !

For remainder" 6'f News see last page.