ON AN OLD ROAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 103, 3 May 1930, Page 9 (Supplement)

ON AN OLD ROAD.

Homeward along the dear old road, The hilly, dusty, lonely road That long ago we knew, I came —and all along the way, The quiet old familiar way, Came memories of you. Beside this Stump we used to rest, _ When hot or tired we stopped to rest, And down this valley green .. oro We sought for ferns and wild weed flowers. Made skirts of fern leaves, wreaths of flowers, And decked us like a queen. At this sharp bend we used to stand Near the high, smooth rock wall, we d stand And watch the tiny streams Come trickling musically down— Ah, I have heard them tinkling down Sometimes ev'n in my dreams! And when we passed these native woods, These beautiful, fresh, murmuring woods, Our minds it used to please To call out, and hear echoing, And still again re-echoing Our voices in the trees. This road is full of memories, So full of dear old memories, And as I came that day Those visions all came back to me, Came thronging sweetly back to me From dim days far away. And as I passed the mumuring woods, The dear old green, familiar woods, I heard —now loud, now low — The echoes of your well-known voice, Your ringing, happy, laughing voice, Thrown back from long ago. The others With me did not know That you were there. They did not know That on the road that day Your feet were keeping step with me, Your voice was whispering to me— Yes, all along the way I —IVY F. SMYTHBMAN. Auckland.