Poetry.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2492, 30 June 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

Poetry.

THE NIGHT WATCH. BY F. C. Urqcuart. Tho " boss" has turned in and is fast asleep ; T'Wi horses around arc trumping ; Their riders —two men in cabbage-tree hatsAre silently watching the travelling bats As the mob is quietly camping. " Poker Jem " has allowed Ins thoughts Backward to go a-roving To the routine flush that took him down And forced him forthwith to clear from town, And to go once more a-droving. " Gontleman Jack " is thinking of homo And the girl he ought to have married, And the kind of a man he might have been If the moss he got into had been foreseen, And his life had not all miscarried. Jom reckons that ho's had darn'd hard luck, And consigns to several places Tho man who cleaned him out with a smile When he stood to win such a tidy pile On his hand, which held tour aces. Jack thinks that tho ways of tho world are queer, And the ups and downs are curious : There's a kind of happiness everywhere ; The majority don't much know or care If it's true or if it's spurious. Crack goes a branch from that old dead tree, And with instantaneous rattle Four thousand feet striko the gravolly ground, And with one thundoring rush of sound A.way go tho frightened cattlo. Gone are the thoughts of the gambling game And the sentimental musing As they ride for their lives to save the loss Of the mob—behind they can hear the " boss " All created things abusing. A rattling gallop they have in tho dark, No thought of their danger taking ; They wheel them at last ou the homeward track, And with patient driving they bring them back As the daylight is slowly breaking. —Quecnsiander.

THE DUKE'S EXEQUY. AURAS, A.D. 1401. Cloth'd in sablo, crown'd with gold, All liis wars and councils ended, Philip lay, surnani'd The Bold ; Passing-bell his quittance toll'd ; And the chant of priests asccndud. Hailed knights and archers stand, Thronging in the church of Arras ; Never more at his command Shall they scour the Nethorland, Nevermore tho outlaws harass ; Naught is loft of his array Save a barren territory ; Forty years of generous sway, Sped his princely hoards away, Barter'd all his gold for glory. "Forth steps Flemish Margaret then, Striding toward tho silent ashes ; And the eyes of armed men Fill with startl'd wonder, when

On the bier her girdle clashes ! Swift she drew it from her waist, And the purse and keys it carried On the ducal coffin plac'd ; Then with proud demeanour fae'd Sword and shield of him she marri#d. ■' No incumbrance of the dead Mu.'.t tho living clog forever ; From thy debts and dues,' she said, " From thy liens of thy bed, We this day our line dissever. " From thy hand we gain release, Know all present by this token ! Let tho dead repose in peace, Let the claims upon us cease When the ties thaL bound are broken. "Philip, we havo lov'd thee long; But in yeari of future splendour, Burgundy shall count among Bravest deeds of tale and song This, our widowhood's surrendar." Back the stately Duchess turn'd, While the priests and friars chantod, And the swinging incense burn'd ; Thus by feudal rite was carn'd Greatness for a race undaunted. —Edmund Claiiknue Stedman.