SELECT POETRY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 183, 10 August 1871, Page 7

SELECT POETRY.

TWO HARVESTS.

There is music in the air, Soft and sw<tet - It conies from the Tale and hill, Dwells everywhere. Rising from incense meet Aj if our land was still An Eden fresh and fair. Tbe sunlight shines upon the sheaves, The sickle glitters in the ripened wheat, The swallows twitter in the eaves, FIOW6W nentfe at our feei ; The Eelds are whitAinto the harvest now, And slowing up thPlfountain's brow Waveth the golden grain ; Then gather in Till corn and wine abound, Till harvest comes again, Till Joy the year hath crowned. A cry comes o'er the sea, ' Weird and wild, ■Borne over the surging wave— Wbiitcanitbe? It is the harvest, child — The harvest of the grave ; The harvest reaped by thee, Oh Death ! The air is full of moans, The trampled corn with blood of men is wet, The quivering sky is pierced with shrieks and groans, And angry foes have met, And ranks of men are mowed like ripened wheat. And fall to lie beneath the feet Of those who reap* The wail Of bride or wife Comes, like the harvest song, ' * Rising o'er aIL the strife — 'How long? oh' Lord ! how long ?'