POETRY

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 372, 25 June 1903, Page 2

POETRY

NEW POEM BY DICKENS, V, An unpublished pcem from the pen Of Charles Dickens vts read by JCni AUce Meynell. of London, to the members of the Contemporary Club and their friends during her address on * Charles Dickens as a Man of Letters' lately. *1 put in a book once, by hook or by crook. The whole race, as I thought, of a feller, Who happily pleased the town’s taste, much diseased. And the name of this person was Welle*. Bat I found to my ocet that one Welle* I'd lost; Cruel destiny so to arrange it; I lore her dear name, which hiefi Irbtt me' some fame, But great heavens \ how gladly I’d change it !* The poem was written sESrHy After D..kens had been presented to the young woman mentioned by him in the lines, and was read by Mrs Meynell with tt e permission of the woman herself. - •• TBE SPACES'OF THE YBABj£ ?j> Back through the spaces of 4fe mirrored years. We gfc'ao through eyee unshed i: •, tcig, . * ■ And see ourselves a? we appeared in youth

Ere what we then called trutn naa growu untruth, What courage and what • hope, and what desire; T- ; - - What zeal that set our very souls on nre j What faith in man, in out own selves*. Hi God. ' v , , . What depths we sounded, and what heights we trod. Now, from the cool shades of the Zone of Calms, Where nature drops upon us healing !ij balms, !•/* : ’ . ■ : ! We gaze back at the tempest and the And wonder at the quiet cf our blood. What have we lost P Alas, we have lost all, Joy, hope, illusion, faith—the roll why call? What have we gained ? The great years grow serene, . •; . . Unthrilled, yet patient, waiting the last * serene, --■? ~ 7 1 Wide are the vanished years ' A brief mirage the gleam of youth apAnothen the softening tints of elder days, At last—the end seen .through a shimmering haze.