Selected Poetry

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 49, 9 December 1925, Page 32

Selected Poetry

fc - FAR AWAY. As chimes that flow o’er shining seas Ip;;'; When Morn alights on meads of May, Faint voices fill the western breeze | With Avhisp’ring songs of Far-Away. Oh, dear the dells of Dnnamore, p; A home in odorous Ossory; p- ' But sweet as honey, running o'er, The Golden Shore of Far-Away! { i There grows the Tree whose summer breath p Perfumes with joy the azure air; And ho who fears it fears not Death, Nor longer heeds the hounds of Care. Oh, soft the skies of Scskinore, £ And mild is meadowy Mellcray; But sweet as honey, running o’er, f| The Golden Shore of Far-Away! There sings the Voice whose wondrous tune Falls like diamond showers above If That in the radiant dawn of June Renew a world of Youth and Love. || Oh, fair the founts of Farranfore, And bright is billowy Baliintrae; But sweet as honey, running o’er. | The Golden oj ore of Far-Away! J: ' Come, Fragrance of the Flowering Tree, 0, sing, sweet Bird, thy magic lay, Till all the world be young with me, ! And Love shall lead us far away. Oh, dear the dells of Dnnamore, A home is odorous Ossory; L ’ But sweet as honey, running o’er, The Golden Shore of Far-Away! —lrish Weekly. ▼ A SPRING AFTERNOON IN NEW ZEALAND. ■ We rode in the shadowy place of pines, ; The wind went whispering here and there %: Like whispers in a house of praver. 1 The sunshine stole in narrow lines, And sweet was the resinous atmosphere, The shrill cicada, far and near, Piped on his high exultant third. : Summer ! Summer ! he seems to say— Summer! He knows no other word, But trills on it the live-long day; )y, The little hawker of the green, Who calls his wares through all the solemn forest scene. ;; A shadowy land of deco repose! Here when the loud nor’wester blows, How sweet, to soothe a trivial care. The pine-trees’ ever-murmured prayer! To shake the scented powder down From stooping boughs that bar the way, , And see the vistas, golden brown, ; ■ Touch the blue heaven far away. ; r ■ 4 ; But on and upward still we ride - Whither the furze, an outlaw bold, Scatters along the bare hillside Handfuls of free, uncounted gold, And breaths of nutty, wild perfume, Salute us from the flowering broom. ?/v;

I love this narrow, sandy road, That idly gads o’er hill and vale, Twisting where once a rivulet flowed, With as many turns as a gossip’s tale. I love this shaky, creaking bridge, And the willow leaning from the ridge, Shaped like some green fountain playing, And the twinkling windows of the farm, ■ Just where the woodland throws an arm To hear, what the merry stream is saying. Stop the horses for a moment, high upon the breezy stair, Looking over plain and upland, and the depth of summer air, Watch the cloud and shadow sailing o’er the forest’s sombre breast; Misty capes and snow-cliffs glimmer on the 1 ranges to the west. Hear the distant thunder rolling; surely ’tis the making tide, Swinging all the blue Pacific on the harbor’s iron side. . . . Now the day grows grey and chill, hi if. see on yonder wooded fold, Between the clouds a ray of sunshine slips, and writes a word in gold. —Anne Glenny Wilson. * THE LAST OF THE FOREST. Hast thou not heard, 0 White Man, through a troubled dreaming On some still night when all the world lay stark, Sharp through the silence, moaning of the sea, and screaming Of night-birds in the dark? Hast thou not said, 0 White Man, shivering when the shrieking Wild voices thrilled thee in a mystery of pain; “Peace! ’tis the Ocean calling! ’tis the Dead Tree creaking! Hush thee, my heart, again!” Are they but birds? is it the sea in lamentation, Or is it Ghosts of Earth, and Air, that cry, Moaning a requiem, in their utter desolation, lor old worlds passing by Is it the wind that howls? The Dead Tree thou ignorest, Speech hath, and Spirit, though a shadow grey. Hearest thou not the voice that mourns the vanished Forest, That was, and passed away? “White Man, behold me! ghastly in the Spring’s sereneness, Battered, and bruised, by ceaseless storm and strife; I am the Spectre of a mighty forest’s greenness, I, who am Death in Life!

Late, and with lingering footsteps, Spring draws near, revealing 4v|| Love, and new life, to every passer-by; TJ Angel beloved! in thy touches is no healing,, ■/'(, No balm for such as I! * k.. ■% '-M pawn after dawn, I, sleepless, wait the first . faint flushes, k. Then, as the cloud-gates of the East unfold, Over Hit*, world the red flood of the sunrise rushes <• That leaves me white and cold. Heaven in her pity rains her tender tears upon me, Me, —who shall never bud or bloom again, There is no quickening in the sunshine lavished on me, The dew drops all in vain. Shattered by lightning, tempest-tossed, and torn, and broken, Storms had no power to shake me till this last, When, at the coming of the White Man, doom was spoken,— Now live I in the Past! hat is there left, 0 White Man, what is there remaining? What is there flees not from before thy . face ? Wonder thou not to hear the Spirits’ loud complaining i For flower, forest, race! A As the worn body by a lingering breath is ? haunted, ' ‘ i So is my Ghost withheld from final peace; -I While these strong roots thus firmly in the 4 earth are planted, 1 Am I denied release. Hast thou no mercy, Storm-wind? let thy fury hound me; Let loose thy b iends, and bid them work their will. Till in Earth’s bosom snaps the link that bound me! ■ | Then shall my soul he still I Dost thou not hear, 0 White Man, through thy troubled dreaming 1} On this calm night when all the world lies stark, Sharp through the silence, moaning of the sea, and screaming Of night-birds in the dark? What ! dost thou say, 0 White Man, shivering when the shrieking Wild voices thrill thee in an agony of pain; ■ “Peace! ’tis the Ocean calling! ’tis the 4 Dead Tree creaking! Hush thee, my heart, again I” They are not birds! the sea wails not in f A lamentation — J* " They are the Ghosts of Earth, of Air, that * cry, ’ ‘-*1 Moaning a requiem, in their utter desolation, For old worlds passing by. . ' ; v||E —Dora Wilcox. * ■ ; ■ '■ ■ * k-‘-