THE FATHER OF THE FOREST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10034, 22 January 1896, Page 3

THE FATHER OF THE FOREST.

Already wist thnu great and wise, And solemn with exceeding eld, On that proud morn when England's eyes, Wet with tempestuous joy, beheld • Round her rouxh coasts tho thundering main .Strewn with the mined dream of Spain. The roysterinK prince, that afterward Relied his madcap youth, and proved A greatly simple warrior lord .-inch as our warrior" father* loved— Lives he not still ? for Shakespere sings The last of our adventurer kings. His battles o'er, he takes his case, (dory put by, andsceptred toil. Round him the carven centuries Like forest branches arch and coil. In that dim fane, ho is not sure Who lost or won at Azincour! Now from these veins the strength of old, The warmth ami lust of life depart ; Full of mortality behold The cavern that whs once my heart! Me, with blind arm, in season due, Lot the aerial woodman how. For not though mightiest mortals fall, The starry chariot hangs delayed. His axle is uncooled, nor shall The thunder of His wheels he stayed. A changeless pace Ills coursers keep, And bait not at the wells of sleep. The South shall bless, the East shall Wight, The red rose of the Dawn shall blow ; The million lilied stream of Night, Wide in ethereal meadows flow ; And Autumn mourn ; and everything Dance to the wild pipe of the Spring. With oceans headless round her feet, And the indifferent heavens above, F/irth shall the anciont tale repeat Of wars and tears, and death and love J And, wise from all the foolish Past, Shall pendventtire hail at last Th« advent of that morn divine When nations may as forests grow! Wherein tho oak hates not the pine, Nor beeches with tho cedars woe, Hut all. in i heir utilikcnes* blend Confederate to one golden end. Beauty—the vision whereunto, In joy, with panting*, from afar, Through sound and odour, form and hue, And mind and clay, and worm and starNow touching goal, now backwaid hurled— Toils the indomitable world. William Watson.