THE GLORIES OF EGMONT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 30 June 1925, Page 13

THE GLORIES OF EGMONT.

.(Written .for The Star.) Oh stately Mount, upon whose form A mantle white is east. Far/iip thy. slopes the wind doth blow,A A lierce and piercing blast !' • I’ve gazed on thee .from childhood’s days • I’ve climbed/thy lofty height And viewed with awe the scene below, Revealed to human sight. Away across the broad expanse— Ayont the ocean blue— Our sister Isle stands dimly out, Her snow-capped mountains,, too. . \ . ' ■' ’ Yet nearer still, towards the east,. Old Tongariro lies. .In wrathful mood he of times will. » With smoke besmirch the skies. Fair Ruapehu nestles near To Tongariro’s side. Imaginary, she appears As liis long cherished bride. Waimate’s far-famed' fertile plains Stretch out towards the west.;, . And towns and hamlets everywhere In slumber seem to rest. ' I ’ve wandered ’neath thy verdure green; I’ve crossed the steep moraine, . And gathered plants both choice and fare / Throughout thy broad domain. The biishinan ’s axe and raging, fire Long since have cleared this land, And sacrilegiously effaced The work of Nature’s hand. ' Aesthetic charms our flora gave, When virgin forest grew, ’• Not only do we mourn its loss, But all our songsters, too— The silver-eye, the warbler grey, The fantail, pied and black. The bell-bird and the parrot gay— We long to have them back. Alas f lliey. number few, those days, , God’s Creatures we adored. The scanty bush forJhehi, forsooth. No shelter doth afford. Ah ! yes, we cannot see them now As in the days of yore, ' But still we can at intervals . Their company restore; For in. that silent grand reserve. Throughout the woodlands wide, • Their songs and calls we still may hear From morn Mill eventide. There stands a rival cone, ’tis said, In a distant, warmer clime. I care not for this idle boast: To me thou art sublime. Reign on. old Mount of Majesty, A vigil o’er us keep; . \ And generations yet unborn On thee their praise will heap. —G.S.W.'