THE SECRET.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 287, 3 December 1932, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE SECRET.

There was a pretty and secret thing that happened to me once, To me, a shy girl, Fearing life and words. Two little children, Shy too, Watchfed for me daily, Half hidden by a flowering currant bush On a garden walk. For daily I went On a blank suburban road To a dingy room And a piano— A piano without a soul to reply to my Questioning fingers That sought life's poetry— And I came away daily, Saddened. But out in the dim and cool garden, Smiling amid the flowering currant bush, Two faces like stars shone Twinkling, And silent as starlight in high heaven. * * . . .* • Then a day came for good-bye— The rose-rusty blossoms drooped and fell— Alone-Good-bye to the piano and road and the kind child faces. I walked down the pathway, My arms full of ragged portfolios. My life all silent— But they met me, the two, by the gateway; They gave me their treasures: Pink wool, And • a brooch of blue glass, Very shining, they gave me, And whispered "We love you ! We listened each day to the music— Oil . please, lady, give us a kiss !" And that is the secret story, The lovely adventure That no one has shared till now. Never again shall I see The shy, sweet, nameless children Who broke the silence; Yet somewhere, perhaps, Two little star-sisters Remember, As I have remembered them—always. —MARTIN FORMER. Auckland.