POETRY OLD AND NEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13796, 8 July 1908, Page 10

POETRY OLD AND NEW.

" DEATHI ; ; : " . « .■■■'. '.-::'.■ ':.'■••;>'-v."-' f ßevenge I I think I never harmed a little child. i, '» What should Revenge do coming to my door? ; It matters not, for Death is there already, \ Waiting with his dim torch to light, my way. '; 'Tis true men hate thee, Dearth, sand yet I think? Thou wilt be .kinder:to me than roy,; lover,' ".'':?*£ And so despatch the messengers at, once, , \ Hurry the lazy • steeds of lingering i day, ? And let the night, thy sister, come instead, '. ' And drspo the world in mourning; let, the owl, Who is tny minister,: scream from his tower . And wake the toad with hooting, and the bat, That is tile slave of dim; Persephone, : '■'".• V =Wheel " through the " sombre ; air on ' wandering ■• ■■• wing] -", : .> ' ' . ~-- ' •'-•'•■•' Tear .up this shrieking mandrakes from the earth • And bid them make us music, and tell the mole l To dig deep down thy cold and narrow bed, For 1 shall lie within thine arms to-night. —From the '• Duchess of radua," .by Oscar Wilde.■; LE TEMPS PASSE, MAIS L'AMITDB :>'- : '.-. ! V: • RESTE. . '■ ■- - " (Sundial Motto). . ' . Time passes.. blue the summer skies, '.....;. Serenely blue, blue as your eyes; And yettrust not ! the summer skies ; '_ Nor; summer days; , Time passes, v Vain to bid him stay ~; '■■•' Or. pause .upon his headlong way; .' He pauses not nor will delay "'■;"' One single day. *~" Time parsset. Swift his winged flight, And whilst he pusses, life and light. :• Vanish, as the unfriendly night : O'erwhelms our day. ■ V *.■•'■. Time, passes. \ Summer suns will set, ,' i. Winter assail us, Pain, Regret, '■■! \ And Sorrow. Hut lament not yet. ' For Friendship stays. —Michael Harrington. a MAN'S A MAN FOR A' THAT. Is there for honest poverty •'•■" - That hangs his ' head, and a"j that? The coward slave, we pass him by, We dare bo poor for a' that! For a' that, an a' that, • • - • Our toils obscure,an a' that: < The rank is but?the guinea stamp,; : The man's the gowd for a' that. ' What : though on namely fare ,wo < dine, ■Wear hoddin gray, and a" that? Gi'e fools their silks, and knaves their wine, A man's a man for a* that; For a' that, and a' that, : Their tinsel show, and a' that— c . The honest man, though e'er Bae poor. Is king o' men for a' that. Then let us pray that come it may— ■'-■\ As come it will for a' that— That sense and worth, o'er a* the earth. l May bear the gree, and a' that. For a' that, and a' that, It's comin" yet, ; for a' -that— That" man to man, the war Id o'er, " Shall brothers be for a' that i '"■'/• ,'. ;. . -;?" V\ :':'-•- •...-■ ■ —BURNS.

LOVE AND DEATH/. ; Set not a bound to Love. It is. as wide As God is; its immeasurable 'deep Laughs at the plummet; its full waters ; sweep . Throughout infinitude, taking their tide From Him in whom eternities abide. Yet plunge, and fear not. The strong waves shall leap • -. Joyous to bear thee; no soft child asleep > Can breathe more safe against its mother's 'side. )

Nor needst thou - fear ' when Love's wide waters take . Their other name. > Oh! . thou that passest through, . ' , Call them no longer Death, since, for. thy •'■' sake, " . ■ The floods stand back that thou raaysfc walk -."-dry-shod,, ■-. s\ l Freed from thy House of Bondage, to that ■ new. • That larger life where all is Love—is God. '. • —ADA BARTRICX BAKER. \ THE HAPPY PRINTER. v Hoc est vivere.Martial, • xxiii., 7. The Printer's is a happy lot; Alone of all professions. No ugly smudges ever blot '-.':■ His earliest "impressions." ' The outgrowth of his youthful ken No cold obstruction fetters; . '■■;,,.-'.' ~ He early learns the " types" of men, . And all the world of "letters." With " forms" he scorns to compromise, For him no "rule" has terrors; The " slips" he makes he can " revise"— They are but " printers' errors." From burning questions " of the " press" He wisely holds aloof; , In all polemics, more or less, . His argument is " proof." Save in their " case," with high and low, What need has he to grapple! Without ', dissent he still can go" ... -' > To his accustomed " chapel." ' '• From, ills that others shun or shirk. He rarely fails to rally; . For him, his most " composing" work Is labour of the " galley." Though ways be foul, and days are dim, • He makes no lamentation; The primal " fount" ?of woe 'to him • ,;> want of ' occupation: j : And when, at last. Time finds him gray With over-close attention, .. ~ . '•'■■*', •He solves the problem of the day,' And gets an old age pension. —AUSTIN DOBSON, - in Printers' * Pie.