A CONSECRATION.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1208, 19 November 1919, Page 3

A CONSECRATION.

Not of the prinees and prelates with periwigged charioteers Hiding triumphantly laureled to lap the fat of the years, Rather -the scorned—the rejected—the men hemmed is with the spears; The men of the tattered battalion which lights till it dies, Dazed with the dust of the battle, the din and the cries, The men with the broken heads and the blood running into their eyes. Not the be-mcdallcd Commander, beloved of the throne, Kiding cock-horse to parade when the bugles arc blown. lnw tlie lads who carried th c koppie and cannot be known. Xot the ruh'r for me, but the ranker, iho tramp of the road, The slave with the sack on his shoulders pricked on with the goad. Th.' man with too weighty a burden. t<>o weary a load. The sailor, the stoker of steamers, tinman with the clout. The ebantymnn bent at tho halliards putting a tune to the shout. The drowsy man at the wheel and the tired lookout. Others may sing of the wine and Hie wealth and the mirth, The portly presence of potentates goodly in girth;— Mine be the dirt and the dross, the dust aim the scum of the earthTheirs be the music, the colour, the glory, the gold: Mine be a handful of ashes, a mouthful of mould.

Of the maimed, of the halt, and the blind in the rain and the cold— Of these shall my songs be fashioned, my tale be told. Amen. —JOUX MASEMELD.