VERSES NEW AND OLD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 478, 10 April 1909, Page 9

VERSES NEW AND OLD.

THE SAKA. • Your eyes grow saucers! ... . Once in Ispahan 'I' Baw. a -.water-carrier, lean and black, , - ' Bearing the weight..of.' his enormous pact About the square.' And when, our caravan Admired him for his mighty strength, the man Called' for three boys to leap upon . the sack, And bore them off together, flinging back, To our applause, a verse of the Koran. But when ho put his burden down, the strain Had hurt his back so, cruelly that none' E'er saw him ply the saka'e trade again. And me: So madly did I press . On to, the end, that when it came, success Loaves mo more broken than defeat had done. —Hari-Kari, in the "Glasgow Herald." V,;,,,-:. -■HUNGER. "Flowers. are food for the soul." How I hunger day by day v. For the banquet hall of Slay, As I tread the famine way - and • grim, • .Wljj i'the hedges lie severe , Likathe bones of yesteryear, And precious buds .appear Weak and slim! 0 the sunshine pure and white , Overwhets "my appetite', And my thirsty soul at night Lies awake, , And a meagre feast I spread ■ Of the thoughts bf summers dead, . . ; Ufltil Nature's: li.ving bread God shall break. —A.W.,. in the "Daily ■' News." ; A .GOD IN VENICE. '.Ae town whose quiet veins are dark" green ' ■ sea,' ' V .' ; The town whose flowers aid forests are bright stone• ...--. IKere it was' the God came to you and mo , In the boundless depth of summer. All alone • We lay, and half- in dream,- '. Gazed at the' thin salt stream, And heard the ripples talking lazily. : No verdurous growth; no sudden sharp decline Of buds or leaves is there:"the marble towers, Come rain, come obld,* come snow. or gay sunshine, . Blossom eternally, with graven irowers. ■ Yet there the wild God came In silence, shod with flame,' Girdled With mystery, and crowned 'pith vine. We lay in the'sun and listened, and we heard 'Soft-treading feet and whispers in the air Arid thunder.: far away, like a God's word Of dire import, and saw the noonday flare And tall white palaces. Sway "all with, dizziness: •' The bells pealed faintly and the waters stirred. And Life; stood still a moment,- mists came . swinging , .' J Blindly.'before us; suddenly we passed ' The boundaries of joy; our hearts were ringing True to the trembling world : we stood at last Beyond the golden gate, ~ ■ Masters, of Time ana Fate, And knew the tune that Suu and Stars were singing. For.'like two travellers on a hill, who'stay Viewing the smoke that "dims the busy plains, 80,'-' far away (sweet.words are "far away!") We saw our life; and. all its crooKed lanes, '-Dim'cities and dark walls ' • Fell, as a-world "that" 'falls, ' ■ And.left us radiant in the wind of Day.An end, an end! Again the leaden lioon .Glowed, and hot Fever opened her red eyes, ■And misery came creeping- out, and soon' .We felt once: more- the sorrow of the wise. Come friend! We travel on, - '■ That one brief vision gone, ; Bravely, like men who see beyond the skies. —James Flecker, in "The Nation." " A 'THOHGHT OF CAMPO S. MAURIZIO. I have a friend"and I have a book, but' that's not-enough for me — I want-a. Palace in growing out of the - ®? a >' •■' > ■- ■ A frivolous, haven of Refuge,' t'oY'slumber and drift and think ... ' . ; In fti'great exotic.;flower,':veined 'with l sdelicate :' pink. ; ■- " _■ I want a.v Palace in Venice, where I can hear ' all day. ■ . The; Gondola's leaplin'the wat,er Vhen a great , ship churns-her way, ■; -'v! Where I can see them straining between the painted poles Like a'lost' 1 and fettered army of black and ; ■ angry souls* I know a Palace in Venice, where woman and _ man have made With a book and" a spell of music a wonderful life in .the shade,. ■ ; ;.- r Where morning succeeds each' morning, and; never they see the sun,. i For their wonderful day is -elided before ; t . has well begun. .. And behind the floWery* Palace,' a Square of burning stone, Where the heat of the sun drives upwards and 1 \ burns . you to the b.one— .. '' ■ Then slender bridge and - a lieavy church where no one, goes to pray, ' 1 ■■ And a_ "wine-shop splashed with Verona wine, ; and a bell that calls all day. '■ What if the iron enter into the soul of pain?— Seek a Palace in Venice, a lily set in a drain;' Xhe sun shall spread long fingers to find the hidden, sore ~ . ; . : . • '' ' the healing flame burns inward and the tninicer thinks no more; • ' , Dh, many .a time in Venice the "lass was lifted /. . ' high, ind focussed through thfc-, golden 1 drink the hot and steady sky, . And he who left an evil, day in English . meadows .green 4 . , . • , Bees through a glass. of wine as ■ Venice " should be. seen. ■ v "-Viola Taylor, 'in the "Westminster Gazette."