VERSES OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1336, 13 January 1912, Page 9

VERSES OLD AND NEW.

A GREY DAT. Aloof in her ancient chamber Sat the old Damo o' the Years, And she said as sho sat at her Loom of Days! I'll spin them a Day of Tears I Sho set liside her blue and gold, .Brought forth her murkiest grey; And set to spin, with vindictive grin, A dreary, dreary day. Sho called for. her Maid o' Tears To take tho Day below. And she bade tho blustering big North Wind On tho poor Maid's tears to blow. ,■ Thou from her ancient eyrie watched, With eldritch eerie mirth, Poor mortals writhe in tiie sleety mesh Of tho day she had sent to earth! —George Rowntree Harvey, in tho Gazette." LIFE. ' Methought tho world had passed away from mo Gone out upon the evening liko a breath, And left me to the solemn silences, And boundless hills of Death. Yet far below me, as tho faint, dull hum Of distant city lifted by tho wind, I still could hear tho idle murmurings . That I had left behind. Did he do this? Did ho write that? My life, it 6ceincd, was worth a line or two: "A-poet's death" would serve to stay tho eyo Till there was something new. And upward curled, like fading tongues of flame, Life's bygono laughter, throbbing of past *. toars, . The flicker of accomplished deeds and ' hopes, Old failures and old fears. The light wind dropped; and white Eter- ; nity Stood at my side, impenetrable, vast; A. child laughed somewhere; then tho ."mist rolled in, And so those mnrmurs passed. Silonco; and thon a trembling of the mist: Like birth of day, cold light grow flushe^l and' warm, 'And all Eternity was slowly wreathed In ono tamitiar form. Ecr eyes wero radiant m the dance of stars; The tears of parting were for over gone, And down tho Everlasting rolled her voice:— "Beloved, wo live on!" —R. G. 8., in tho "Westminster Gazette." THE TRIFLER. O I am so sick of tho Big Things " —Tho Big with a Big, Big B— Tho Important.Things That Aro Strictly Such, Tho Grtat Big Things That Matter So Much, They never can leave you free. For 1 love to live in the little things If littlo they, really be; . Tho mere littlo things, tho near littlo things, ' The dear littlo things, the queer little things, That mako up the world for mo. .

And so sick I am of the Strenuous, That never will let you rest; No quarter given or spaco allowed For dreams that shift as a sunlit cloud

Adrift in tlio golden west; No use for the shimmering Gossamer, As it cannot bo spun or tied, Or the glorious "globe of the Scap- • bubble, The golden blue of the Soajf-bubblo, The roseate green of the Soap-bubble —Just because it has nought inside.

And 0 Xiam'Eick of> tho Practical, The serious sober sense," That never, has,- walked in the Moony V Ways, By_ the Mossy. Doll of the Starry Fays To the Castle of ludolenco. And 0, and 0, your Sensible Man, With what disgust and scorn Will ho banish r.ud lan . the aerial clan. Peaseblossoin, Puck and Peter Van, And pack, in a Carter Paterson Van, .With Scheherazade and Khu'jla. Tihan, To' their-faery lamis forlorn i

A trio of excellence, wisdopi, worth— And I'm weary of all tho . three. And it is not good to feel like that; It's exceedingly wicked to feel like that; I'm sure you could feci like that; It's only tho case with me. But, then, I was born a little bit cracked, So I hardly count, you see; And—it wouldn't be fair to. omit the fact They are wearier far of mo., r-"Perajnbulator," in tho "Spectator."

. THE UNCONQUERED AIR. ' ' ' ' i. : (19C6.) Others endure Man's rule: he therefore deems I shall enduro it—l, tho unconquared Air! Imagines this triumphant strength may bear His paltry sway! yea, ignorantly dreams, Because proud Ehea now his vassal seems, And Noptuno him obeys in billowy lair, That ho a more sublimo assault may dare, Where blown by tempest wild the vultnr® screams! Presumptuous, ho mounts: I toss lis bones Back from the height Bupernal ho has braved: Ay, as his vessol nears my perilous zones, I blow tho coekle-shell away like chaff, And give liiin to tlia Sea lio has enslaved. •Ho foundars in its depths; and then I laugh! 11. (1911.) Impregnable I held myself, securo Against'intrusion. Who can measure Man? How s'uoldd I guess his mortal will outran Defeat so far that danger could allure For its own sake?—that ho would all endure, All sacrifice, all suffer, rather than Forego tho daring dreams Olympian That prophesy to him of victory sure? Ah', tameless Courage!—dominating power That, all attempting, in a deathless hour Made earth-born Titans godlikej in revolt!— Fear is the firo that melts Icarian wings: Who foars nor Fate, nor Tinio, nor what Time brings, Slay drive Apollo's steeds, or wield the thunderbolt! —Florence Earlo Coatos, in "Harper's."