SELECT POETRY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume I, Issue 24, 25 July 1868, Page 5

SELECT POETRY.

LOST IN THE BUSH.

I. The wearied sun moved homeward to his rest, In the far glory of the western heaven, And crown'd the mountains with a golden crest, That deeper shadows to the vale had given, Where lay a wanderer, who long had striven, Through dreary days and dreary nights of pain, His path to gain, but wearied out, had given All hope farewell, to bloom no more again. 11. The gnawing pain of hunger, known t6 none But lie vrho once has felt that bitter pang ; The longing sore for water 'neath a sun Athwart whose face no friendly shadows hang ; And mute despair that, like a serpent's fang, Poisons the springs of life with bitter gall ; And half -born hopes that leave a deeper pang, Alas ! poor wanderer, he had known them all ! 111. Sadly he gazed, far in the distant gleaming, With blood-shot eyes that burned with fever's flame ; And his pale lips moved slowly, as in dreaming, While broken, half -connected whispers came. Perchance he strove to speak some loved one's name, Who far away awaited his returning ; Perchance his lips but murmured with the pain Of a poor broken heart's incessant yearning. IT. Oh ! who can tell the bitterness of death, With none to wliisper words of comfort near, No loving ear to catch the faltering breath, No hopeful voice the parting soul to cheer ; None but the night-wind moaning sad and drear, As 'mong the sombre leaves it wings its flight, And the curlew's wild wailing far and near, Or glaring owlet hooting to the night. V. And slow the shadows deepened into night, And all night long the dews above him wept J The owlet circled o*er him in its flight, And timid things in darkness 'round him crept, But all unheeded, for he calmly slept ; And when the dawn looked westward o'er the hill, No waking herald o'er his features crept, But still he slumbered on all pale and chill. Woodend, Sept. 27. T. D. F.