NEW ZEALAND VERSE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 192, 15 August 1925, Page 22

NEW ZEALAND VERSE.

■ THE MURDERED FINES. Night's starry tide far into space withdrawn. They used to break from the white mists of dawn; . Ruling the wind with surges, long and loud, Their ragged spires stood dark upon the bnm Of the vast blue beyond. Where coming daylight spills Its frothing silver on the tumbled cloud— They were the last to fade and dim, As the approaching night came gathering In Its outpost shadows ttom the lonely hills. The upland road breasted the swelling land to' where They used to throw A cool blue shade upon the dusty glare; Shadows of clouds fled by them In the wind; At dusk they almost seemed To brush the darkling sky and fill The storry stUlnesses with murmuring, Which fled for ever like the sound of some far dreamy sea From hill to hill.

But now, the road goes on Unshadowed, through the day. Following the dusty way, They went as lumber, lopped and prone, and drawn By the slow jingling teams, To feed the screaming mills Of some far distant town, But still sometimes In dreams Their ghostly whisper seems To —aunt the cloudy sight, and lingering die Into the empty dawn. *-_JL» W-sagant