VARIOUS VERSES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8196, 28 July 1906, Page 3

VARIOUS VERSES.

SONG OP THE SOUTHWARD BOUND. j When th« norther sweeps from the polar deeps And the boughs are stripped and bare Then-I baste away from the clouds of gray To a country bright arid fair. JBy the soeeding ship or the flying tiain I flee to the land of flowers, Where the summer smiles over miles and miles Of rose and jessamine bowwrs. The winds may blow, and the ioe 8 may grow, Aod the frozen flakes may fly, Bat I'm southward bound to a sunny sea All under a turquoise sky, Where the tarpon glides with his silver sides In the depth of the crystal tide l , - In the hunter's boat in the reeds . afloat For the teal and the mallard bides. Oh, the stormy day for the folks who stay, And the blizzard's bitter cold, JBat for me the shades of the Everglades And the trees with fruits of gold ! For Florida waits by her rose- , wreathed ga*es With the oallas on her breast, With the tare perfumes of a thousand blooms, To welcome the Northern guest. L THE LAST VOYAGE. Night, and the cloud-wrack massing; A sob in the rising wind; A ship at the pierhead passing From friends chat are left behind. \ "Stand back there, back from danger!" But he slips through the cheering horde, That dark, grim-visaged-Stranger, And lightly he.leaps aboard. No sound but the ship's bell tolling Across the fields of foam, And the song of the billows rolling That bear the Leader home. And the Leader listens waking, To the measured tones that tell That the dawn will soon be breaking— Nor knows that it is his knell. What quenches the helmsman's vigour That hw uhudders and turns eo pale; Has he seen the shrouded figure, That leans o'er the dipping rail? Why looks be over bis shoulder? Does the wind from the Ice-belt freeze? Or is it a breath that is colder Tnan blast from the polar seas? J Day dawns. See the Leader turning His eyes full of gathering Are To the home of his heart's strong yearning. And the Land of his Desire. Day Bets. Through tbe fond friends thronging Tbe Strfnger dread strides on. ■One touch. There is no more longing, The lighi of the eyes is gone. Yet call not that Stranger cruel, Who to the Leader came, For he brought ,bim the flawless jewel Of undimmed name and fame. .And who of ajl those that love him, Would not die as the Leader died, With tbe flag that he served above him, And the life of his heart beside? —J.S., in Sydney Telegraph. NATIONAL MONUMENTS. -Count not the cost of honour to the dead Tbe tribute that a mighty nation pays To those who loved her well in former days Means more than gratitude for glories fled; For every noble man that she hath bred, Immortalized by art's immortal praise, Lives in the bronze and marble that we raise, Tu leaci'our sons as he our fathers led. x These monuments of manhood, brave and high, Do more than forts or battle ships to keep. Our dear bought liberty. They fortify The heart of youth with valor wise and dfiep; They build eternal bulwarks and command • Eternal strength to guard our native laud. —By Henry Van Dyke.