“PIKI KOTUKU.”

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 120, 19 April 1940, Page 5

“PIKI KOTUKU.”

(The Plume of the Heron.)

TO THE MANAWATU PIONEERS. For those who sleep, peaceful be their slumber, Lest they are forgotten, both in name and number; Let love and duty urge us, no longer dare we wait, Else eternity cannot uurge us from those tragic words “too late.” Seek not from time hours of ease to borrow. Use well the golden moments of to-day; The leisure we seek at the hands of to-morrow, On wings unseen is borne swiftly away. No need for marble pillar, no need for guilded dome, For those brave hearts who toiled to build for us a home Make for them a garden of noble tree and favourite flower Remembrance be both watch and ward, guard well their sacred bower. There is a hill beautiful, the plume of the Heron’s crest. Make this our garden of memories, for those who are at rest; By the Great Creator moulded, shaped by His Immortal hand, Born of earth for earth-born children, let it forever stand. Seen only in a dream where slumber our senses steep, Our spirit roams through sjnrit land, we to arms of sleep, On every side, both far and near, new beauties meet the eye An earthly Paradise, supreme beneath 1 the curved sky. Midst joy and sorrow, helpers all through every phase of life, Loving mother, daughter, sister, loyal and faithful wife: Theirs were lives of earnest endeavour, ever staunch and true, Midst darkest night, the star of hope did sec them safely through. From the unknown, wilderness they made of it a fruitful land, From high and hoary mountains, bush clad valley to the strand, Strong of arm, fixed of purpose, unknown to them life’s fears, - The God of our Fathers was shield and buckler throughout their toilsome years. —Alex McKenzie.