POETRY OLD AND NEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14226, 24 November 1909, Page 9

POETRY OLD AND NEW.

THE TWO SUNSETS. One rose was all the west, and all the east One pearl: how belt in the heart thereof Burned, as one opal may, the lamp of love Called after Venus' name. The dusk decreased Slowly before the moon; her blue-robed priest The night seemed, serving at her shrine above; And rest on all things settled like a , dove, And, of day's charms, the last seemed not the. least.' So at my . hope's sunsetting, when the night ! Of a wide woe and deep loomed hard at hand, I thought to find the storm-cloud sweep tfo land * All round me, and the storm lament the light I turnedwhat met me, where heaven's tlowfita uncurl? f One rose the west was, and the east one pefirl. *—S, Gertrude Ford, in the Daily News. THE HUNTER'S MOON. , ' Our kingdom lies before us: " / Gold stubbles stripped of sheafes^ A windy sky tlung o'er us, A floor of drifting leaves. - The hips are on the hedges, The fern is bent and brown, . , • And from the dark cloud edges The hunter's moon looks down. Fair were the long lone-edges ' ■ With pink of dog-rose flowers, . > More dear are the brown hedges That wall these ways of ours; / More dear the leafless beeches, ' Where hungry north winds croon, . ' More dear the grey sky-reaches,, That hold, the hunter's moon ■ —Will H. Ogilvie, in Baily'fe Magazine. f ■ WHERE?! /' In a sheltered niche in Evergreen HedgeIn the narrow street is her ling-place, Thrust anglewine, a sunny wedge, To whose green and bloom GoJ lends His grace. Slowly about her and silently • - . .f Has gathered a gentle company. Dear little maid i In some lost ■ dream Bphere Warm and close in my hear!/ she grew, But the drifting years have left her here In this shadowy isle of pea ne and dew. I Over that small rose faae of hers With silken whispers tlie 'young grass stirs. Swift little butterflies flit about, . „ White .as her spirit's wandering star.. The frail spring blossoms just coming out 5 Seem faint and sweet :as,Tier footprints are; And these airs are a 'message softly blown From her April life amd her fair new zone. Ada Foster Murray. ,"TO A DREAM. While yet the .world wSb grey, Ere the hot glories of the nascent day Had set the skies aflame, Swift to my slumber-weighted soul you came, And swiftly passed away. The wind blew cool >A n d sweet Across a sandy; beach, , that stretched to - meet Ocean and azure sky; . • And white-capped waves caressed unceasingly The pebbles at my feet. Afar, dark pine-trees bent ; To give the perfumed air a drowsier scent; And shadowy hills arose, Pale in the splendour'.of untrodden snows, Toward the firmament. And by the water clear ' A woman stood, whom once I held most dear, With starry eyes that shone Even as tliey had done in days bygone, • Ere envious; Death drew near. She smiled. 1 It- was as rain On the parched earth wherein my heart had lain; She bent her lips to mine, And through my veins there ran the fiery wine Of Youth and Hope again. _ So stood we for a space, Till a strange darkness hid her radiant face. It passed. A throstle broke Into wild melody, and I awoke From my dream trysting-place. j I ask no more than this Of the- great gods who grant such transient bliss: That, waking, I may keep One jewelled moment from the crown of sleep— The tneqwry of ber ki^s 1 r William Freeman.