-The Pink and White Terraces

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 136, 11 June 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

-The Pink and White Terraces-

I -1., in the luw sky-line of the billy rant'e Hi-lore them, gw«eplug dowu It* (lark-gr»-«-ii face Into the luke that slumbered at Its base, A iiiltfbty cataruL-t —so it Heeuied —■ hut a huinlre.l steps of marble streamed Ami t;usli<'i.l, or fell In dripping overflow - l-'lut utejiy, In flights half-circled row o'er row. Irregularly mingling side by side; They ure the torrent-curtalu wide. All rosy lined, it seemed, with sunset's Klow — But what la tlilH :—no roar, no sound DHturhft Unit torreut's lnmh profound! The wuiiili-rt-rM near uuil nearer come— Still ix the liiiKhtV caturnet dumb! A lliiiuxitiiil fniry lights may shimmer With tender stlieen, with «lo»sy glimmer, ii'i-r curve iidviinced and nalletit edge (if many a luminous water edge; A thousand slanting xhudoW* pale May filiiK their thin transparent veil Hit deep reeess and shadowy dent in many a watery star's descent: Vft, mellow-hrli»'ht, or mildly dim, Itolh lights and shades— hoth dent and rim — Kacli wuvjr streak, each warm snow-It-ess - Stand rigid, mute and motionless! No faintest murmur— not a nuuud — Helleres that cataract's hush profound; No tiniest bubble, not u Hake i>f flouting foam is seen to breuk The tunoot lines* where It meets the lake: Along that shining siirface move No rlpplex; not the elljfhte.Ht swell Umllh o'er the mirror darkly green, Where, every feature limned so well— l'ale, silent and serene an death — Th« catariK-t's Image hangs beneath. The cataract —but not more serene. More phantom-silent than Is seen The white, rose-lined reality above. They paddle past — for on thp right Another cataract come* In sight; Aniilher broniler, grander night Of st'-ps all HtalnlcNH. miowy-hrlght ! They land - tlK'ir curious way they track Nenr Ilili-kcts made by contrast black; And tltnii. what wonder seems to be A cataract curved In Parian stone, Mr niiy purer substance know— lifilfo or mllk-clinlceilony ! Its dlinwering snow cnscaden appear Long raiik"s hriglil of sla lact ite, And sl'.irry fn-ts arid white, Thick falling, plentPou«, tier o'er tier; Us crowding stairs, in hold nscent I'ili-d up I hat silvery Kliuiim-riiig height. Are layer*, thev know acrretions slow or hard MlllcloiiK nedlmeiit : l-'ur. as they gain a rugged road. And ciiiitiinis climb the solid rime. Kadi step be. ifs a terrace broad - Knell terrace a wide basin brimmed Willi water, brilliant, yet In hue The tenderest, delicate harebell-bIM

Deepening to violet ! Slowly climb The twain, and turn from time to time. To murk the hundred hatha In view— Crystalline azure, anowy-rimmed— The marge of every beauteous pond Curve after curve—each lower beyond The higher—outeweeping white and wide. Like snowy lines of foam that glide O'er level »ea sands lightly skimmed By thin sheets or the glistening tide. They climb those milk-white flats Incrudted And netted o'er with wavy ropes Of wrinkled silica. At last— Each busing heat increasing fast— The topmost step the pair surmount, And 10, the cause of all ! Around, The circling cliffs a crater bound—■ CliffK damp with dark-greeu moss — their slopes All crimson-stained with blots and streaks—■ White mottled and vermilion-rusted; And in the midst, beneath a cloud That rV-r upward rolls und reeks And hides t lie sky with Its dim shrout". Look where upshoots a fuming fount — I'p through a blue and boiling pool l'ereiuilal—a great supphire steaming. In tliat coralline crater .gleaming, I'pwelllng ever, ainethystal, Kbullleiit comes the btibbling crystal! Still growing cooler ur.d more cool As down the porcelain stairway slips The fluid Hint, and slowly drips And hangs each basin's curling lips V'ith crusted fringe each year increases. Thicker than shear-forgotten fleeces; More close and regular than rows. Long rows of snowy trumpet-flowers Some day to hang in garden bowers. When strangers shall these wilds enclose. But see ! In all that lively spread Of blue and white and vermeil red. How dnrk with growths of greenest gloss, Ju«t at the edge of that first ledge, A little rocky islet peeps Info the crater-caldron's deeps. Along the ledge they lightly cross. And from that place of vantage znze o'er nil the scene—and every phase The current takes as down it strays: They note where'er, by step or stair, ISy brimming bath, on hrtllow reef or lionry plain. Its inngic rain Clin reach a branch, leaf, blossom gay. Are Mm nclifil and stiffened into stone! So round about lurks tracery strewn Of daintiest moulded poreelaln-wnre. Of coral wrentbs and clusters rare, A white flint-folinge I rather say Such fairy-work as frost nlone AVere equal to, could It o'er lay With tender mint of crystals fair, — r'ltie spikes so delicately piled — Not wintry trees, leaf-stripped and bare. But summer , * vegetation, rich and wild. —ALFRED DOMETT.