THE GHOST'S SONG
"OA, have no fear of man or ghost," My great-grandfather sang From a moss-riddled orchard bough Where brown pears used to hang, "But fear the thief who’d steal your heart More than the serpent’s fang. "A honeycomb was all my gold," The old man said to me, "And in this garden I would watch The homing of the bee: Now hive and house alike are bare And so my ghost goes free. "Here once in fruitful labour I tended barn and byre, But now beneath another Tree Attend the flame-voiced choir, Whose ancient leaves have never known The gale of man’s desire. "And if I haunt a moment The place of my sojourn, It is to praise the bramble And thicklier-matted thorn. The blessed ghosts go free on earth
Because they cannot mourn." preter tte
James K.
Baxter
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540611.2.35
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 777, 11 June 1954, Page 18
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141THE GHOST'S SONG New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 777, 11 June 1954, Page 18
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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