LOOKING FORWARD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10112, 22 April 1896, Page 3

LOOKING FORWARD.

Slkkp, let me sleep, fur lam sick of cAre; • Sleep, let me sleep, for my pain wearies me. Shut out tho Unlit; thicken th.? lie ivy air With drowsy incense ; let a ilntaut stream Of music lull me, languid as a dream, Soft as the whisper of a summer sen. Pluck me no rose that growetli on a thorn, Nor myrtle vihite and cold as snow in June, "Fit for a rirgii on her marriage ro-irn: Rut bring mo poppies brimmed with sleepy death, And ivy choking what it garlandeth, . And primros :s that open to the moon. listen, the music swells into a song, A simple song I loved in days of yore; The echoes tale it up ami up along The hills, and The wind blows it back again— Peace, peace, there is a memory in that strain Of happy days that shall return no more: Oh, peace ! your music wakeneth old thought, But not old hope that make my life so sweet, ' Only the longing that must end in nought. Have patience with me, friends, a little while: For soon,- whete you shall dance and sing and smile, My quickened dust may blossom at your fees. Sweet thought that I may yet live and grow green, That leaves i nay yet spring from the withered root. And buds and flowers and berries half unseen; Then, if you h-.piy muse upon the past, • V ■' Say this : Poos' child, sh-3 has her wish at last; . Barren through life, but in death bearing fruit. i Christina Rosbtti.