ORIGINAL POETRY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 88, 16 October 1869, Page 6

ORIGINAL POETRY.

TH33 POISONER L I cannot think it ; yet I fear to seek The fall probation that could bring relief, Lest it might t>e that Bhe I call jny wif e'en whom no boyish passion I outpoured, But the full current of a manly heart — Lest Marion, my love, my own ewe-lamb, Should prove a haggard little worth the love Erstwhile my manhood's proudest boast and crown. I dare not face it ; and I cannot fly, For still tha grizzly horror breasts my step And thunders in the thunder ; in the night The rustling aspen whispers to the stars !Fhai bed the secret in the gazing flowers. I hear it in the wind : th« merry lark Rejoices as h? floats above his faithful mate— Because I am the thing I will not name. IL I dare not ask her ; yet my honour bids (Never unheeded till this fateful hour) That I should rend the loathsome veil apart. The flouting finger' of the village jades Already dogs my path ; with pursed-up mquths My old companions shun my hand, and sneer As though I were accomplice to disgrace. I dara not know th» truth, that yet I know Too truly to he truth. Would God that I were dead. 111. Will she never die ? Who would have dreamt So frail a body held so stout a soul. The poison works but slowly, and decays My stern resclve ; — old memories guard the life I would destroy, becausa of ray deep love. I cannot think her guilty ; would to God I knew her guiltless ere it b 3 too late. IV. I cannot piay, for when I turn my gaze , On Him who did not spurn taa Magdalene, I sea an angry Judge ; and yet Tbou knowest Twaa love, not vengeance, urged me io the deed. T. These woeful trappings seem to mock a grief That mourns relentless with unfeigned tears ; I might have known her purer nature could Contact not with my baseness and ba pure— And so she fell and died a gnevous death ; And I s°. o."" 1 a weary pilgrimmaga, With, no cowjf anion. but my liatecl self. One only comfort soothes my weary way — ' Marion, was worthy, and was foully wronged. Lawrence, October 12, 1869. G.M.