"QUIS SEPARABIT."

NZ Truth, Issue 69, 13 October 1906, Page 8

"QUIS SEPARABIT."

In the volume of charming and often Shelley-like verse . published some eighteen or more years ago, by the late gifted Phillip J. Holdsworth, of Sydney, only the last verse of the appended beautiful poem appears. It was, m fact, a fragment; but the poet had always m his mind its completion, and. m 1896 he added the other verses. "Phil" had ceased, m disgust at the gross materialism of his countrymen, to publish, but a friend who appreciated both his amiable, noble nature and his superb talent, prevailed on him to permit him to publish it m Sydney "Truth." It was copied by the best papers and magazines m America and also m England, but has never been printed m New Zealand. The same friend now takes pleasure and pride m perpetuating the memory of his lost comrade by reproducing these exquisite verses : QUIS SEPARABIT. All my life's short years have\ been stem and sterile— I stood like one whom the blasts blow back, As with shipmen whirled through the straits of peril, So fierce foes menaced my every track. But I steeled my soul to a strong endeavor, I bared my brows as the sharp, strokes fell, And I said to. my heart "Hope on, hope ever, . Have courage, courage, and all is well." Then, bright as the blood m my heart's rich chalice, Oh, Blossom, Blossom, you came from far ; And life rang joy, till -the world's loud malice Shrilled to the edge of our utmost star. And I cried : On me let the rough storms hurtle, The great clouds gather and shroud my sun ; But you shall be Queen where the rose and myrtle Laugh with the year till the year is done. . So my dream fell dead, and the fluctuant passion— The stress and strain of the past regrew. The world laughed on m its reckless fashion, But earth whirled worthless because of you. In that lake of tears which my grief > discovered, . I laid dead Love with a passionate kiss ; • ■ ■. . And over those soundless depths has hovered The sweet, sad wraith of my banished bliss. Heart clings to heart— let the strange years sever v . The fates of two who had met to partLove's strength survives, and the harsh. world never . Shall crush the passion of heart for • heart'! For I know my life, though it droop and dwindle, Shall leave nic love, till I fade and die ; And when, hereafter, our souls rekindle, ■" '; Who shall be fonder, you or I ? ; '