VARIOUS VERSES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8306, 8 December 1906, Page 3

VARIOUS VERSES.

' PBKJUDKJE. Xjike dust in unused rooms, unlovely, bare ' " Of all that gives them beauty of repose, .It blurs the sun and clogs life's .finer air, The voider vision which' ■ true : .thought bestows; It eats the sonl oH'aitli, like cankering blight That kills'the breathing fragranco of the llowera, It narrows charity and hides its 4igh't, It .wukes' the doubt that sleeps, . the scorn that sours. ■Away, • 0 foul distemper of the brain! . The child of raucous hate and rigici thought, iThe curso of. nations and the people's . .bane, Crushing, the tolerance, which ■ truth lias wrought; '.Till Justice, with diviner wisdom's " lien, • , Shall rightly gauge, the acts and s ways of men. Isidore G. Ascher.

A MATCH. ;If love were what the. rose is, Andil were like'the leaf, -Our, lives would grow together • In sad or singing weather. Blown fields of flowerfull closes, " - Green, pleasures or gray grief; ' If love were what the rose is, And I.were like the leaf. If I were what the'words are, And. love were like the tune, With double sound and single, .. Delight our. lips would mingle With,kisses glad as birds are That get sweet rain at noon : . If I were what the words are, And iove were like the tune. If you were life, my darling, And I, your love, were death, We'd shine and snow together - Ere March made sweet the weather, With daffodil and starling And hours of fruitful breath . If you were life,. my darling, 'And-I, your love, were death. ylf you were thrall to sorrow, x And J were page to joy, ' We'd play for lives and seasons. With loving, looks and treasons, - And tears of night and rrfornrw And. laughs of maid and boy"; -If you were thrall to sorrow, , And I were page to joy. ilf you were April's lady, : And. I were lord in May, We'd throw with leaves for hours, And draw for.days with fipwers, ' Till day, like night, were shady And night were bright like day; If you were April's lady, And I were lord in May. If you were ; queen of pleasure, And l were king of pain, We'd hunt down love togethes, Pluck out his ilyipg feather, _ And teach his feet a measure And find liis mouth a reign; If you were queen of pleasure, And Iwe re .king of pain. - . —Algernon Charles Swinburne.

SOWING AND REAPING. ; Sow with a generous hand ; • Pause not'for tpil or pain; Weary not-through the* heat of sum.mer, . Weary not through the cold-spring rain; ; But wait till the autumn comes For the showers of golden grain. Scatter the seeds and fear not, A table will be spread; What matter if you are too weary To eat your hard-earned,bread ! to .• Sow-, while the earth is broken, For the hungry must be fed. : Sow—while the seeds are lying . In the warm earth's bosom deep, . And your warm tears fall upon it—- -.. They will stir in their quiet sleep; . . And the green blades rise the quicker, Perchance, for the tears you weep. 1 Then sow, for the hours are fleeting, And the seed must fall to-day; . And care not what hands .shall reap' it, \ i . Or if you shall have passed away , (Before the waving cornfields : 1 ■ Shall gladden the suriny day. ; Sow, and look onward, upward,. , Where the starry- light appears— Where, in spite of the coward's doubting, 'Or your - own "heart's trembling fears You shall reap in joy the harvest 1 You have sown to-day in tears. —Adelaide Anne Procter.