VERSES OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 876, 23 July 1910, Page 9

VERSES OLD AND NEW.

IMPOTENCE. ' ■■ fihall I sing-a Seng of your Mouth? Nay, but.what could I sing? ' If I likened it to the South, From whose breath the roses spring, . Or the purple night wlv.ise pulses bright Bo the stavs in heaven a-swing, .1 had only spelt how the shadows melt . In the Beam i of the l'eriect Thing. Shall I write iny praiso of your Breath? . Nay, but what could I. write? ; Did. I. say it is like the death s ■ Of the dark when day meets night, ' : And the, scents of dawn through the dews are drawn ■..'.. And.the June niueks mix with light, I should but' have told all rich odours fold . ' . Bound, the Husk where Pure Dreams ■ ■ grow bright. , Shall I sound tho Trump of your Tongue? : Nay, too weak is my breast; ■'. If I said that it rang among May's lyrics of leaf and nest. A'. Bliss of Vows which from birdthronged boughs Might never bo note-exprest, I should .but expound that" the sweetest Eound , • Is harsh by your Truth Coiifost. —May Doney in the'"Westminster Gazette." ..■'■' AN IDYLL., , Good-night! We've watched- together, and .have seen the woods grow black, tiood-night! The moth-like owls sweep iout upon their track. Ton stay at last, at my bosom with your beauty young and rare, '-'.'. . Though your light limbs are as limber as the foal's that follows the mare/ Brow fair and ,young and stately, where thought'has now begun, Hair bright as the breast of the eaglewhen he strains up to the sun! ; in the space of a broken castle. I found you on a day ■When the call of the new r come cuckoo .went with me all the way; ' . You stood by the loosened stones that were rough and black with age, tChe fawn beloved of the liunter in the . panther's broken , cage! . 1 Bo we went down together by paths your childhood - knew, '".-•'-. Kemote you .went , -beside me, .like the spirit of the dew; ; ' Hard were the hedge-rows still, sloe- , bloom was their scanty dower: ■. I Ton slipped it. within yorfr bosom, the bloom that scarce is flower! j •■ 'And now you stay at my bosom with your beauty young and rare, Though your-light limbs are as limber as the foal's that follows the mare, But always I will see you on paths your, childhood knew, . . .When remote you went beside me like the : spirit of the dew! ■. , '<—Padraic Colum, in London "Nation." GIPSY BIRTH HYMN. Where the hasting .waters roll On with end nor goal Thou are dipped, to drink their soul. ■ 'As the restless currents flow, Ever restless shalt thou go On the wide earth to , and fro. As the living waters. fall . Prom the skies; the. skies recall, So the .-skies'shall be thy all.- ■ As they range from hill to sea, - As the waters thou shalt be; Passing ever, ever free. As the' water shalt thou "sing,.; .-.. • ■ Hearken well its 'murmuring', 'Tis the song of wandering., v ,' , : Thou shalt dance as dance the streams; See the ripple leaps and- gleams,' Calling on-tot... newer dreams.. As the waters so .thy end: ' Where the stream and oceaii blend, To the sun thou shalt ascend. , .-F. O'Neill .Gallagher, in the "Daily. News." HOURS.BEFORE DAWN. Where would I be? Between the'heather'and the sea, Beside a lozenge-windowed kirk, That in this hour of morning 'mirk Looks greyly towards the storm-grey Manse, Whereround tall rhododendrons dance. There spreads a belt of greenest grass, Where white-plunied dandelions pass Their time in tossing on , the air Winged seed on seed; light care on care. Between tho heather and the sea ' Is where I'd be. There summer's scourge doth not prevail,. Nor shrieking winter's tempest-flail; And spring and autumn shimmer and pass Like shadowy breath upon a glass. Shine high the sun, brood low the dark, Sing soft the wind, sing loud the lark, The sowers sow, the reapers reap— Naught touches them that there dp sleep Between the heather and the sea, . Where I would be. Nor dreams are theirs, nor hopes nor fears; . ■ . Nor laughter's light, nor noise of tears; Nor vain-breath struggle to be first, Nor any soul-or body-thirst; Nor any hunger, fanged and fierce, The spirit to slay, the flesh to pierce; Nor any memory sad or sweet: But sleep is theirs, full, round, completeBetween the heather and the sea, Where I would be. Love comes not .there; .she owns no thrall "Within those bounds; yon lichened wall (0 wisest, grimmest, best of friends!) Tho frontier of 'her kingdom ends, !As v.-ho might say, "Till death—not after!" • ' ■ ■ • Nor ever there rings children's laughter, That cruellest of darling chains Bind weary man to living's pains. Between the heather and the sea Is where I'd be. Below the dappled .nor'land skv My father ana my mother lie," Safe in the garth of Tired Man's lease.) And, crowned with plenitude of peace, As they these thirty years have" lain, Prom Life's delight ami Life's disdain Secure, they share an unjarrcd slumber, No jealous dreams of wakingxiuinber— Between.the heather and the sen, ■Where I .would be. Thither, O-'thithor let me wend This« goodly day of harvest'.? end, Forsaking all the doing and din, To lie and sleep beside my kin! And first—l know—my dead shall wake And open wide their arms and take Close, not the grown man, but the child They knew, by Life yet undented, Between the heather and tho sea, Where I would be.. And we shall talk a little while. My father with a grave wise smile, My- mother with a wistful tear, Holding, my bands, shall listen and hear My.taio-tho telling takes not long: Love, lots; fight, flight; an hour of song! Then slie: "0 baby, do not weep!" And he-. "It's over, boy. To sleep!" Between the heather and tho seaIt's (here I'd be. .... To sleep! To sleep! Hark! | there's the knell Relentless cf the rousing bell! TJp for another day of doing, Of fortime-ivooing, fame-pursuing! Vp with wh.it hope is left and out, Out for a?Mu!t, rebnfV, and rout! .... Won I t!»' world, the world I'd pay To flff'::-. six liiim!:"d miles away, ]!c.lv,T?n t.ho lipailiei- and the sva, , ? Whore -J" would be. —W. A. .Mackenzie, in the "spectator,"