VERSES OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 9

VERSES OLD AND NEW.

MUSIC. * . (From tlio Trench of H. do Regnior.) little reed was all I sought \ . To set tho long grass ninrnniring, » Tho. singing, stream tho.-murmur, caught; v . Douce willows*, tossed it down tho mead. y':lj only .sought'a.little reed . " To make tho. woodland sing. In. tho coro of-night, niy reed is heard, Now.in.tho wind, afar or near, ■Xow iii the quiet;.faint, or. clear, By air who pass in. fancy stirred. »'» » - And whoso -passes listening : In fancy,,!in Ms own heart's core .< Hears yet: again and. evermore ■ Tho-song I sing. ~ •

'Twas all I sought, 'tis all I-nced (This-little 'reed plucked, it tho spring, , Whore to, behold. as iii a glass -v Her eyes of "tears, her eyes- that dream, Came Lovo ones on a day), to bring , . .. Tears, to tho eyes of all, who pass, . ' Thrills, to. the- grass . and murmurs to the. ■ . stream. . . •' • ■ 'And I, by- blowing on a reed y ■ ~ ' 'Make tho wide' Woodland sing. . . »--L.W.H.,; in the "Westminster Gazette." AN AEAB SONG. .Saadi,: the-Poet, stood up, and ho put' forth, his.,living words; His,songs were the hurtling of spears . V • 'rad'i his figiires; tlie flashing of • srwords. 7 .With -liearts dilated our tribo saw .the .- creature--of Saadi's mind; It was liter to 'the horse -of, a, king, a >. - (if ,firo and-of wind. ;; .tjmimah'. i'my. loved, one, was" l)y me:; ■ - ■ " without-lovo' did' my eves see'.my fawn, 1 ' 'Apd.if fir'o there' w'ero in her" being,; for' i ■ "mo. its. splendour was gone. . ■ - - . When-tho-sun storms on the tent it ... , : makes''waste.tho fire of'tho grass;. , It was thjis with my loved; one's beauty— - j the splendour, of song mado it pass! : The, desert, the'march, and the;'onset— .• " these, - and tbeso 1 only, avail. Hands' hard with the handling of spear--shafts, brows'white :with.. tho pross-of tho mail. .'. ' ' ' .; ''Andias for the,kisses.of woimeri, these aro • ~honey,-thb.jpoet sings, •But the honey of,-kisses," beloved, it is lime . for tho-'spirit's wings. ■■ ' - -rPadraio -Coluin, l in',London "Nation.": . SIR • , : - ['■'§;& Pedivere, having'slain his , lady in of, was lv'dden by : Launcelb.t..''fo7,carry, her to Winchester,. •there,; to' 'abidethe 1 judgment. of Queen • Guenever."—"l'ho Noolc ilistory of King Arthur."] •.' , . ../ .i; .The Qucen : had said'to h£m: "Go thou to • Kome, "And bear her with thee, sinco she was -thy wife, . . And lay-her at the Holy.' Father's feet. " And if he, seeing her ii?<\ she is now, . 'All pale and bloodied, who was once so ' y - fair,-. : ; ■ .. ,Can help to cleanse, thde from .thy griev.'7' -OUS sill, ■ ... '- ' ' I .. . 1 ..Why, th'ou shalt be-for given, Pedivere." v So they put hamess.'on j.'the strong white 7 >■ horso : I '•'He rodo.'iin'.tourneys,' (and. ho went at -dawn' --'.'.vy/'.t.'v ■!'-'! .inlthe falling I; rain, 5-'-i : ;r•';v7" ; ' : r'r v: :;V.'7'- • -'" i>And7]mew:-that;in\tho-^rake;it'either sido : VJWere him going by, '"j " ; : ' '.' -. • 7 .' -And saw;tlieichaipi'Jof: gold, about his neck. ;Yet he wouldjiwtta/'itVsincV-it was her . 'gift. - -- ''■Ho had no 'laiiee, ■ n6 ; ;swdrd,. he was unarmed. -. ■ The wrought steel of his gorget and his . ' mail •••■"' ■" ' ; .Might bruise her tender flesh. 1 Ho thought ' oi that, ' . . "He, w"ho. had Kl'ted her; so he was un-. 7' armed; - - And yet none stayed him, as ho rode ... with Death.He wrapped her .body in a cloak of furs, . i -Since, though ho ,'liold her close she seemed ■.' so cold; . : ■ ■ < Tho.ugh often, :»9 lie rode,' he'bent bis :.;• ' head ". ' ■ •■ •';"• ' ' -. .. To kiss: her life-or whisper in her ear. - ..Then, as night,' fell; he •fancied' that she moved, ... - And. ho. was glad, and. called her by. her name. • The horso otild go-, no farther, so 'he - "stayed,. ■' ".. ■ ■ ■i - And laid his : tuirden down beneath a tree, 7 Close by the 'river's edge, and watched i:'. it there.' . /•'. ' > ~ Once, and aga in ho asked her : "Art thou .':cold?"-. i" „ i l '.-• 1 ;; .- She would nol; answer, but her little-hand Was liko anions to; hold. "Oh, love!" lie moaned, ... •■• . . "And took his cloak and laid. it'over her, :V And then his -cotte and hosen, all, and knelt - . - Xaked 'as thoee sto/ie idols brought from . , Home, - ' - Ero;E9me wbs Christ's, or . as the man -. God mado ! -. j ; To live in Eden, before Death and, Love Came to mak& havoe in this world of ours. So they were,found at sunrise lying.there, ■ He, ;■ with a smile' on his frozen lips, . . As'Who:should say:"Why, this is very :■'! well.'' . ■ Anf .those who saw that ho had died for her Held him absolved,' and, having prayed for them, . Xaid them together in- one narrow grave. . —Moray Dalton, in the "Spectator."