SELECTED VERSE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21212, 7 September 1940, Page 11

SELECTED VERSE

THE AIR HEROES I heard the squadron flying home At midnight high among the stars; Never did tale of Greece or Rome Tell of such heroes or such wars. Legend nor boast nor history Proclaimed such deeds as these achieve Who "daily fight Thermoplyae, Who snatch the glove from Death, and live. Perseus and Bellerophon They too, were fighters and had wings, They fought with monsters and they won, And in the stars their glory rings. —Sylvia Lyn, in the News Chronicle of London. Note.—Thermopylae is a Greek pass leading into Thessaly, between Mt. Oeta and the Malial Gulf. Leonidas in 480 E.C. held this pass with 300 Greek soldiers against the entire army of Xerxes, the Persian. Perseus, famous hero of Greek mythology, son of Zeus, killed Medusa, the Gorgon, and rescued Andromeda with the aid of winged sandals and the Helmet of Hades which made him invisible. Bellerophon, also a hero of Greek mythology, tamed a winged horse called Pegasus with a bridle given to him. by Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. WHO IS CAPABLE? Who is capable to guide is not bellicose. Who is capable to vanquish is never wrathful. Who is capable to struggle never quarrels. Who is capable to employ men knows how to obey. In this consists the highest wisdom; it means to bland with heaven. —Lao-tse, Sixth Century, B.C.

THE GREATEST LIGHT (An American’s Tribute to the British) Snuff the candle and put out the lamp Let there be black over these windows mourning For the loveliness they cannot now look out upon; This is the badge of war—this black—its inevitable stamp; Wear it, brave Britain, but wear it as a warning To all extinguishers of light that prowl about upon This earth; let it convey to thoughts more shrouded Than English cities that there is light still burning Within these homes, these many hearts, this mind, A light steady as day’s own and as unclouded That shall survive this faithless overturning, This last betrayal of man by his own kind. A light that shall survive as Shakespeare has survived Change and its rigours, as Milton and as Keats And all imperishable beauty That the centuries have hived To sweeten daily living and to circumvent defeats And make a shining and a crown of homely duty. Throughout this night, throughout this time of testing, The stars mount guard above the Sussex downs— Those lesser lights beyond the range of guns; And He who rules the greater light investing Day shall rend this veil spread over these lovely towns, Spread over this gallant people, and summon up a dawn of many suns. —Fanny de Groot Hastings in The Ob- - server, London,