DEATH OF THE OLD SHEPHERD

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10100, 8 April 1896, Page 3

DEATH OF THE OLD SHEPHERD

In Ills lonely lint tha shepherd lay, Around him the night winds sibling; The nearest twine was miles away; Alone he'd been all lint Christmas Day, Feeble ami sick, arid old and grey, And like the old year-dying;. lie dreams—and is far from the Five-mile Plain, Nor hoars the curlew wailing; But instead comes the roar of the seething main As he stands on his native coast again, And watches th") fishermen sailing. It is Christmas morn, the village bells A merry peal are ringing, While in the Church the parson tells How Christ was horn, and the music swells With the chorus of their sinking. lie holds his mother's lund once more, As she speiks of the parson's warning, Turning away from the old Church door, As many a time and oft before They bad done in those happy days of yore. On every Sabbath morning. But when the cool fresh morning breeze Blows gently through the sheep, lip in (lie eucalyptus trees The laughing jackass sits and sees The faithful sheep-dog at his knees, Guarding his last, long sleep, And none are tiiTo to grieve for him, And none are there to weep.