RUAPEHU.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 150, 19 March 1908, Page 4

RUAPEHU.

RTJAPEHU FROM ABOVE MOAWHANGO.. (Te Taumata o te, ika Kaiwaka ariki;) • Once more upon its towering crest I'm glad to be, .•• ; And (from its pointed peak mine eyes < descry The'boundless universe, of earth, and 6ky. Beneath, the hills in peaks and : dimples fall - tJnto the unseen depths that bound them all; Where a gorge of .walls of. gleaming papa hides. . ■ .' .. The Moawhango as he swirls'and glides.; '. Beyond those depths, unseen, yet felt to bo, , Par down, green dimpled hills 1 again you see;/ Above, great breadths of bush of olive green,' Tlio last against the Murimotu'6ecn: The Murimotu in its mystery <■-. On tho horizon, liko- a. lonely, sea,:, Of , dark and russet gold and golden brown, Changing its . hues fromsuurise. to sundown; And".then, an island in the. living blue, In its majestic'splendour.springs to view. > The Knapehu with its .shining snows, Now'glittering white, at eve a; mystic rose,. And splintered peaks.'that;pierce;the quivering air, ;■ The :httle: Matte Thorn .among - them .there; While Pari Te Tai Tonga rears on high ' Its rock encircled snows into the,sky, • .. .Eiaing tho lesser Matterho'rn between And South, East a glittering: needle seen. - : - f ..' "■ • - For hours that majestic spectacle, ■ Beyond tho powor of mortal words to tell, Held up before wine eyes its towering heights Of gleaming splendours; and ■ of : glittering lights, , . . i .; . Enisled in the heavens', liquid blue, •' Then in a'haze'mysterious passed-from view: But; though-it'passed, that vision will remain' A living splendour...in, tho.heart and braiii, ;i , Prophetic of, the;, glories, yet' to. be , • 61issed :: in' the burtbr : .tif j 'the;Eternal 'sea.' „ i .«!»> •lof ,ot>: ?op>'«n<l 'i-ww •?!•••; 0 Ruapehu.'- hast :thou 'not seen!, Through'all. the mighty aeons.'thou.-hast beeiv ' Sjncb'fiery. : foras'stoodvthes on-thy, height .:' To see this Isle'; emorjrjng'ipto. light,•; <, : With' fiery fountains all v about' thee; flung .: V That: into; rivers ran when -thoU' wert' young; And : twice or-, thrico' the ocean went and came, --.. :■•. :• .. . I And left thco" as .it found thee, much-tho

. same:- ■ ... . ' And- afteri- aeons; vegetable trees / ; '.-. That waved their fibrous' arms against, the breeze, ... \ ' • ■ ■ From whence, .emerged strange creatures of : the' slime, From out the chaos of that vast of Timo.' - ' Confusions' and upheavals of the seas, ■And', vanishing of ancient mysteries:' ... . Then all abroad, the towering forests grow, l Arid from their; depths, 'the Moa' 'stalked in view;. .. .. >'■■" .• :• Forages in contentment lived his day, . • Until came man, the chiefest beast of prey; The Moa: fought ,and fled him many, a .year, \ Till no safe , haunt was' left his , young to

rear; . .... • .... .. Through plain and . forest and . the white sea shore, ' V Until the stately creature was no'more. V What Maori orgies, battles,'hast': thou seen;. Fought out before , thee',.- from : thy heights

serene;. . . '. • ' Warriors dismembered ere they'd 'passed away, And quartered for the evening of'the dav; • Yet;in some ways 'a; nobler race' than ours::-' For all our. boast of civilising powers. 1 Our moral progress, through ten/thousand

years Of vaunted knowledge, poor indeed appears ! . When, do. we what we can, the very breath ' Of our own presence seems to-others death. : Where is the Native of the Tasman ; shore? Why in his own land is he found no more? . The, days may', Ruapehu, come, to (hep • When. the white man in : this'! Isle' thou'lt no more sec; . >.. v ,' But the frugal Asiatic'will displace What seemed unto the' world tho kinglier '■ _ race;" . '• Like ants upon tho march, each at his best, And each at work with all, and none at rest; Dogged, machine-like, of persistent toil, : Of those who came before, he takes the spoil. Ages may pass acrotjs thy glimmering snows And. naught ba found of ; what the world now. knows; • ' . .. And Maori, White, arid Asiatic seem ' Tho jumblo of a half remembered dream.; And all, about tho forest reappear, And' man himself ba' found no longer here; ' Whilst thou, unmoved, wilt still behold the. dawri • ..... / . . , Light up thy snows, and day again withdrawn; Till with this globe itself-thou art no more,. And aimless' aeons pass on as before. o,'Ruapehu! thou' dost seem to be Of this North 1 Island, its. - epitome': ■<:" Thy stately head- each Province sees thee rear At dawn,and .flushed with sunset disappear. At noon, a glittering splendour to'-tho eye'. That takes its .radiance from the living sty;, So,may each soul stand up to its full height! And take tho spleudoiirs of tho Eternal > Light. . . . ,:. . -A. Y. T.