BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 104, 25 January 1908, Page 13

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

- . VERSES NEW AND OLD. : ■■■ ; SHORT BEACH.' Oh, the salt wind in my nostrils!, And tho wliito sail in tho creek! • , And the bluo boyond the marshes! And the flag at the. peak! , .'. My soul .lifts to the bugles Of a far call on tho breeze— , / The cry of my storm-kin calling Ovorseas, overseas! ... . Blow horns of the old seal-rapturo! . ! When your call cornea so, afar, I would rise from the gravo to reach you . Where. the sea-dooms are. . »••' —Richard ; Hovcy. THE CHINA CRUCIFIX. In tho land of counters and aisles and' shelves, where the bluish, arc. lights /ham, , : And storerstuffs wait, in showcase state, as tho gazers go and coino; Where, jangling still, tho busy till ticks tho plodding moments 0n, ,; . ■ Ere a > dusty, pall has shrouded all, and the •'■-' throbbing day is done,: .' In this land of counters and shelves and aisles, a folk of 1 merry mien, On a corner, shelf, by a row of delft, 'mid the porcelain is.seen; Senoras pert, and a gipsy 'flirt, and a fiddling troubadour, • • . A'milklnaid blithe, a. harlequin lithe, and, a .vivandierei demure. ,i, | ; \ Thera's : a. chubby:.china cherub, too, with old ■ rococo locks. And "Hans and Gretchen hand in hand, clogshoon, and baggy frocks.,

. In this laiwl of counters and shelves and aisles, oh 'the shelf whore the statuets stand,■; There'sa ■ crucifix, _ too,' 'of tawdry blue, a : Christ' with nail-pierced : hands. But tho,dust: is spread on the drooping head, >and the' red-limned, wounds aro- dim, . ' And the shop-worn Christ is half the price of : tho .things .that, encircle ;Him. ,!.• 0 Man,of,;.'woe,'. in the long' ago, when tho . ;.croSses,crowned the hill/'' your throne;of pain was a symbol plain of'love' ■ tliit 1 tritimphs 1 still." : . For tho "years' have sped since/His blood was shed, , yet the; shabby cross again ' In .the" busy store speaks the love of yore, the: : .love of a Man for men. . i - . -rC. H. Lyttle, in/N.Y. "Independent." APOLLO AND THE SEAMAN. Apollo through tho woods came down : '-'■.Furred like a merchant find, . And sate with a Sailor at an Inn, . Sharing a jug of wine. .. But ho would not stay nor tarry there ..On. the blithe edge of the down, ; To'the sea-const hia. errand was ' : And ■ the smoke-hanging town. ' ; Far.off he saw, its harbours shine ■ ■ ( And black sea-bastions thronged • - : With masts of tho sea-traffickers For whom .his spirit longed..;'. Far .off ,he heard the windlass hoaved 1 And the creaking of tho cranes, ; Gay . barges hailed and poled along; And''the rattling fall of chains. Till by the' windows of that Inn He 6ate and-took-his ease Where the bowsprits of the swarthy ships .; Came.thnisting to the quays. . .-From "New Poems"-by. Herbert French. ; : OLIVET.. Far on the Mount of Olives little winds ' Whispered each other.of the.laggard morn; '.The cedars shook themselves away .from sleep, , And the' pale lily held her chalice up, Full of bright dew, tho highest Hoaven distils: A pallid moon hung low, the- Pleiades ' Stole late, but merry-eyed, into the ,night, ■As the' Redeemer, uncompanioned now, ... Camo :from_ His height in all'the loneliness Of God oxiled; and in. His Paradise, , The Father, to His holy ~angels said; ' "My Son hath foiled the tempter oil far Earth, And takes His homeward way; o'er Calvary!" Theh .once again tie 'Bethlehem, shepherds '-'•'heard •■'■fr.r. ' . .. "An antlibm'-raised.in lordly' l unison,! e '- That shook the meteors from their ether hold, Grandly to flare,through all night's bluo abyss; The Christ- heard, too, and tho last rebel : . .thought - . ...,. .. Died in His heart, tho' in that lonely hour He felt His hands nailed wide; upon His brow The_ crown of thorn, and in His side the speax,' While;-'pregnant with God's promiso to the world, High up among tho scintillating spheres, i'ho Star'of. the'Anunciation-burned. '.' ' —Fron) "The Promise of the' Star." ;