VERSES OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1324, 30 December 1911, Page 9

VERSES OLD AND NEW.

THE TOWN. I wonder now does God look down Vnoil the town, , „ ; And what He's thinking whon Ho sees The teople swarming there liko bees; Tho alleys and Ihu dirty, lanes, _ '•.The nioidher of tho trains and trams; iTne stately carriages galore, 'And then tlio poor, . Who traipis in the bitter sleet "With brosen boots upon their feot. I wonder what Ho thmks ut night, When angels set tho stars alight, • And in the town the lamps nro bright. Does Ho wutch gaming rascals cheat, ' Old drunken villyains curse and fight; ' While girls, grown shameless, walk tho, street? . Always God hears tho Cherubim Sing praise to Him. But whero He's sitting oil His throne Can Ho hear starving women moaii? , Above the harping of each saint Are Jittlo; cliildher's voices faint? Cau lie in, all the music hear Them sob for fear? ' On dirty pavements babies sprawl With them to .luind .them scarce less small. ' It's sure' God :liears tlio cries of these, And all tho oiiths'iind blasphemies Of them that's'never on their knees. He hears tlio driinkaids shout and bawl Above tlie angels'•. melodies— I wonder what Clod thinks at ail. - W. M. Letts, in the "Westminster Gazette."

, SONNET; Deep in the magic of the orchard ways Here shall wo find a wind-swept sanctuary, Close in engarncrcd mists of > memory: Mellow tho lights, and amethyst tho haze, Tolling of long-forgotten, antique days Born in a seamless cirque of pageantry. Windowed aDont, this little hostelry, With diamonded casements, shut by fays, Of latticed elms and aromatic bays; And-'gainst them, wearied with -much errantry, Beat their wet wings unhappy birds that tly : ' ■' • T,oo far off from tho orchard's sunny maze; '. . And come at cvo to pipe in plaintive lays Sotno echo of the garden's melancholy. \ —"M : ; , .. ' STEEL AND THE MAN. Shot and furnace and forgo—' ' Thus have yo set me freo On tho roadway that leaps the gorgo And tho ship as it takes the sea! f'God through iufiuito ages had given mo rest; Yours wa3 the forest, the flint, tho girdle of skin. But primal lord of the beasts, were yo cursed or blest Whon ye called me out of my slumber to servo your kin? For what ye have launched ye must ride; Whither it tends-ye must fare. The choice yo huvo mado yo must bide— Ye perish, unless yo dare! '(That which yo think in your inmost souls, I do-Build-or shatter; till, or ravage tho land. I; am tho sword, and I am the scalpel, ,'. • top— Unto your fertile brain, tho tireless hand. That I have grasped, ye must hold. That which ye hold, ye must use. (Ye chose ono to serve you, of old— Now, aro ye-freo fo choose? •''The work ye plan and 1 do may raven your soul; The pace ye.set.and I take ye* never can drop. Fast and yet faster I drive—but whither tho goal? Stopping wcro chaos: but what if ye do ' not stop? Iron of hand and of heel, Speeding the engines of fate, .Ye have wrought out a world-of steel ' Yo are helpless to-uncreate! i , v-Charlcs Buxton Going, in "Hampton's." " ' ..,* ',' " COURAGE. •'■- '.. She has no need of sword or spear, Sho shelter's in no guarded . place,' She watches danger drawing near, And fronts it with a smiling face. - Not hers the dull, unseeing eye, Blind fury, and tho lust of blood, Across her soul no tempests fly, No passions surge in angry Hood. But clear as that great dome above Which frames the sun and hides.the star, ; And quiet as the words of Lovo The motions of her spirit are. And ever followiii(!''in her train $ Come two glad figures fair as she, Ono with his foot on vanquished pain, . And one the foo of tyranny. "Where'er tho sons oE men aro found, 'And hearts aspire and deeds aro done, There Courage walks on holy ground With Joy attained and Freedom won. •■— B. Paul Noumau, in tho "Spectator."