Selected Poetry

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 52, 31 December 1924, Page 32

Selected Poetry

RESIGNATION ;" (For tho N.Z. Tablet.) Least in Thy vineyard, Lord, V I have wrought thro' storm and sun; lake Thou the harvest stored, ' > My stewardship is done. Remember not in wrath The fruitless Autumn flown; Make the flowers of my path ' £ A bridge unto Thy throne. Nelson. —Harold Gallagher. A SHIP, AN ISLE, A SICKLE A ship, an isle, a sickle moonT j , Alth fe % b " with how splendid stars He mirrors of the sea. are strewn •Between their silver bars! A" isle beside an isle she lay The pale ship anchored n the bay While in the young moo port of gold • Put T V 8 the mirrors told ~ Rut forth its great and lonely light To the unrolleoting ocean, Nighf' And still, a ship upon her seas, The i S le and the island cypresses Went sailing on without the gale ■ And still there moved the moons ale • A crescent ship without a sail.l ' - * Oology FOR A WORD How shall yon ever know tho adoration I spread like samite cloths beneath your reofc? How shall you guess the ,brooding desolation Learned from your eyes so passionless and sweet ? There must be some word like the star that pauses In summer's rose transparency of dusk, Or like the bird-note heard through slumber's gauzes Between the hour of dew, the hour of musk; i There must be some one word that is more tender Thau any word my lips have ever learned Without, which J can never, never render In speech the love your cool sweet love has earned. You know as none my heart's forlorn distresses, Its passionate tides, its daily tint and glow; Why must there be within obscure recesses This tenderness of love you cannot know? —W'illiam Alexander Percy, in the Yale lie view.

MONEEN BWEE There's a little pasture-field at homo Ave called the Moneen Bwee, Embedded like an emerald'mid hazel overgrown, So happy S p e my childhood on that peaceful sunny lea, In memory it remaineth as the dearest spot 1 ve known. Its wild flowers were as vivid as the rainbow s radiant sheen; The song-birds found at nesting-time a naven near its rim; A knoll stood in the centre where the Lepracaun was seen, Who made the ruddy bootees for the fairies ol bheodrim. The- ocean breeze came floating o'er the mountains purple side, Perfumed by flaming golden gorse that crowned the fallow brows Below, the brook a-babbling'sent its music far and wide, When homeward thence at even-tide I drovo the Kerry cows. Oh, time or distance can not change my love for Moneen Bwee, And there in dream I often roam beneath bright summer skies, The west wind fans it gently through each rustling hazel-tree, While spell-bound by its beauty T rctaste my youthful joys. —Seaghan O'Deaoha. In Memory of MOST REV. THOMAS O'DEA DD Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh " ' Vicar-Apostolic of Kilfenora ' R.I.P. "I have fought a good fight. . . j lave kept the Faith." ave [This sonnet, perfect in construction and rythm and rhyme, pays a graceful tribute to a learned prelate whose death deprived the Irish bishops of a saintly and highlygifted brother. "Erin's Aquin," though a poetic exaggeration, could with much truth he applied to the former Maynooth Professor of Theology, whose fame as an exponent of the -Art of Arts" was not limited 882 iZ C ° l,ege in whfchlle ta «s ht from 1882-1894 nor even to Ireland itself. To say that he was the most capable theologian among he bishops of Ireland is to pay him a very high compliment in view of the fact Inl ", ar£ S/ Inmbc of the Irish bishops have held the Chair of Theology in Maynooth, admittedly the greatest Catholic seminar; in the world.] * Lion-of the triple fold, thy well fought fray *or God and country many a victory won lhomond was proud of thee her princely Son; J Now chilled by'death beneath the Western clay, - t Pillar of justice wert thou in thy sway;

Thy lodestar truth, unheeding prais6 or v 3 blame; Though Erin's Aquin was thine honored / name. J As poor Man's friend thou wouldst be known I tor aye. | Repose in peace near Galway's patron Saint, With Fachanan and Colman of the cell- ■''s After thy toil untiring can'st thou tell ', ' 4 l Free do their croziers pass from slightest P '- taint; j 'Neath Mary's Throne, take now thy right- " I ful place, to S Great Patriot, Pontiff of the Dalcais race '? Seaghan O'Deaoha, CO., Killaloe! * ■'! CONSTANTINE IS SHOWN THE CROSS An owl in a tree-top hooted; and ho woke; hen cast aside the lion-skin coverlet; And turning softly on his couch of leaves Gazed into the night, his eyes blinded with tears, And his lonely spirit cried, and his tongue unlocked. I "Strengthen my hands, 0 gods of Greece," • he prayed, "Help me, ye deities who guard our fanes ! Or is it that ye are not?-blind and dumb. ! Help me some god who made these lessor gods; Send me a sign to tell me who Thou art i If prayer can move Thee, I will bring Thee ■ down. | Come to my aid, bright Spirit of the skies." j A whimper shook the stillness of the night,— .f, The wolves were running underneath tho ■J j pines, /m For Darkness manifested her decrees. '*' -*A And then he raised his head, and staredamazed: Above the flaunting, peering, midnight moon, j Where all men's eyes might see it, hung a Sign. to a -Herbert E. Palmer, in the London % Spectator. | ! s? * i THE FLOWER A wild bird filled the morning air ! With dewy-hearted song; 'J I took it in. a golden snare j Of meshes close and strong. I .. •'■( . Rut where is now the song I heard For all my cunning art, ■:] I. who would house a singing bird ! Have caged a broken heart. j -Wilfrid Gibson, in the London Bookman. 'j i SONGS Many deaths have gone to build f% Every movement I have willed, "'" That my life may be fulfilled. > Many deaths, yet I have breath : -J Still to sing of life and death. ;| All the selves that died in me, ,(\ Live again in melody. .. ■« ' e >>k —Mary Brent Whiteside, in the Weekly A Bcview (New York)'.. " / i

FEATURES OF THIS WEEK’S ISSUE. f t Leader— New Year, p. 33. Notes, p. 34. Topics, pp. 22-23. N.Z. Monument at Gallipoli, pp. 15-17. The Church in N.Z., p. 19. Out Colleges and Schools, p. 25. Sunday Afternoon Readings, p. 51.

MESSAGE OF POPE LEO XIII TO THE " N.Z. TABLET." k Pergant Directores et Kcriptores New Zealand Tablet, Apostolica Benedictione conforiati, Beligionis et Justitice causam promovere per vias Veritatis et Pads. LEO XIII, P.M. »ie 4 Aprilis, 1900. Translation.—Fortified by* the Apostolic Blessing, let the Directors and Writers of the Nexo Zealand Tablet continue to promote the cause of Religion and Justice by the ways of Truth and Peace. April 4, 1900. LEO XIII., Pope.