DESTINY.
—Geraldine Baylis.
In Man’s great need he shall return To the deep and fertile earth And stand amazed, Not at what his hands have wrought, Great tools of steel and ponderous weight, Seeking out his own destruction, But at the power of homely soil In giving birth to living things. Earth’s secret —Life—
He cannot comprehend. He shall behold
The dainty fern On shaded mossy bank Watched over by a gnarled and ancient tree, The climbing orchid and the long festoon Of supple twining vine, Flowers and luscious berries
Tempting gay and sombre birds To propagate their kind; Birds with little haunting songs That tell in whispers of the years They knew before was Man: Or birds that blazon forth
In hurried tumbling notes Their joyousness in life. Here in the forest He shall find a peace That none but Nature has; Shall cease to wonder why There should be War.
For none can see and hear but feel That Man shall turn again
Unto the earth.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/FORBI19400801.2.18
Bibliographic details
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Forest and Bird, Issue 57, 1 August 1940, Page 15
Word count
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168DESTINY. Forest and Bird, Issue 57, 1 August 1940, Page 15
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