Selected Verse

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20260, 31 July 1937, Page 15 (Supplement)

Selected Verse

OLD PINE TREES.

“Whenever I come to an old pine tree, Something leans over and talks to me; I feel its breath and I hear it sigh As a pine tree will when the wind goes by. I hear it tell how the eons pass Like ripples that wave in a field of grass; How the storms that wrestled and swayed and beat Have fallen asleep at a pine tree’s feet. And there’s always a calm when the whispers cease, Always a mantle of cool green peace, Always the doubt that a thing can die That has gripped the earth, that has scanned the sky.” —From the Song of the New Hercules, by Leigh Hanes.

RELATIVITY.

If all the hours we have not met Were added each to each They would make threescore years and ten, Ripe age for man to reach. When the few moments we have spent Together, heart on heart, Are weighed, from when we first shook hands, Till we forever part They will not measure one month’s life: Yet may God take away Past or to come, all years and hours For one such summer’s day. —Anne Fremantle.

THE TORCH BEARER.

“Hold high the torch; You did not light its glow; ’Twas given you from other hands, you know. ’Tis only yours to keep it 'burning bright, Yours to pass on when you no more need light. For there are little feet that you must guide, And little forms go marching by your side; Their eyes are watching every tear and smile, And efforts that you think are not worth while May sometimes be the very helps they need, Action to which their souls would give most heed, So that in turn they’ll lift it high and say, ‘I watched my mother carry it this way.’ “If brighter paths should beckon you to choose, Would your small gain compare with all you’d lose? Then lift the torch; You did not light its glow; ’Twas given you from other hands you know. I think it started down Its pathway bright The day the Maker said, ‘Let there be light.’ ” —Nellie B. Bradley.