Poetry.

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 15, 14 July 1894, Page 6

Poetry.

TO MY WIFE.

i(Bi Asdmw Kinross.)

r (Composed in Dunedin, whilst attending the Provincial Council of Otago. First published in the Southern Mercury of 25th June, 1875, edited by the late Hon. Yimoent Pyke. A lady friend of mine—whose opinion I value highly recently stated that she preferred this poem to any other, that I composed.)... Dear Mary, many changing years have swiftly glided by since first 1 saw thy maiden face, thy kindly loving eye That beamed on me with looks of joy, and won my youthful heart, And made me at the altar swear from thee I’ll never part, Amid the cares of manhood’s days I left thee for a while, And joined the eager hopeful search for nature’s golden pile; For thee I lived a life of care, of hardship and of toil, Fer thbe I fondly hoped to gain the treasure of the soil. . I’ve passed through many a changeful phase since thou became my wife, And Fortune oft hath been unkind while journeying through life ; Yet more than pleasure, more than wealth, X value far above The treasures that the world can give—thy sympathy and love. Oft at the earliest dawn of morn my thoughts revert to thee, Through all the business of the day thou’rt present still with me. Though for a while by duty’s claims I’m forced from theeto part, Where’er I go, whate’er I do, thou still shalt share my heart. I weary for that pleasant hour when I’ll return to thee, And hope thy fondest, kindest smiles may be bestowed on me ; And may no cloud e’er fleet across the sunshine of our life— May foul suspicion never rise between me and my wife.