POETRY OLD AND NEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14302, 23 February 1910, Page 9

POETRY OLD AND NEW.

'■'■■'.". :;■'.■■ ■ . ; LIFE. . LIFE is too short to fuss and fret, < To waste the hours in vain regret, ; ; / To fancy slights, to bother why ~ ,:• This listener gave a.vague reply, Or that one made some jesting threat. ■ And though .dull cares our ways beset. To court indifference, and let . ? Each proffered bit of joy slip by Life is -too short! * ; But, put the world for mirth in debt, And strivo that odds be gaily: met; "'.Humour in every .'cross espy, ■ '■••■'■ • < And no least plea for -cheer, deny• Then, for the happiness we get; ■.'•;.' Life is, too short! '■, ' ".'',.. ■•;.'CHARLOTTE BECKER. '. ' HOW ROSES CAME RED. 1 : Hoses at first -were white. ' Till they could not agree, . . / , * Whether my Sappho's breast ' Or they more white should bo.; .'.,-. But,. being vanquish'd quite, :'- ii:.; A blush.their cheeky bespread;, } Since which, believe the.rest,:': .':; The. roses first? came red. • : :,' BRAHMA. : ;.Jlf - the red. slayer thinks '. he . slays, &m* Or if the slain thinks he is slain. They know not -well the subtle ways ■.* ■'. I keep, and -pass, and turn again. . Far or forget to me is near; ; Shadow and sunlight are the same;' ■ The vanished gods to me appear; :.;: And one to me are shame and fame They reckon ill who leave me out; When me they: fly, I am the wings; :'lam the doubter, and the doubt, And I the hymn the Brahmin sings. ■':■ . Thu strong -gods-pine for '• my abode. : .:. jg And pine in vain the sacred' Seven; .. But thou, meek lover of the good!. :: Find me, and turn thy back on Heaven. E. W. EMERSON.

THE BANNER. Who dreams that in the proud van of the years ■ r - '. .His winged helmet glistens, let him hold Ere he pluck down this banner, crying, "It ' -bears .; ",'>;:•' . ■-/:? ,; ; lAn old device;" for, though it seem the old, It is the new! No" rent shroud of the past. . /But its transfigured spirit that still shines .Triumphantly before j the foremost lines, Even from the first prophesying the last; And ; whoso dreams to' pluck it down, shall stand ' .."".■'. < , ' m Bewildered while the great host. thunders . ' by; - I ■'- ■ - ■'. .. ■ '-'- ■■■-,■ :■ : And ho , shall show the rent shroud in his ■ hand, ; . ,- . - " ..' . V- And " Lo, I lead the van,"' he still shall cry, - : '. ; - '' ■ ■;.-: While, leagues away, the spirit-banner shines. Sweeping;, in triumph before the foremost: , ; lines.. ■ " . ' ":■', "-. , -.', ' ..'•,;■ ALFRED NOYES. '•'• • THE HEREDITARY PRINCIPLE, ,; The London ' Daily News reprints this poem as not altogether inapplicable to the present political crisis in England. There was an ocean pilot, and his eldest son was blind And deaf and dumb from childhood, likewise vacant in his mind; " ,■ But of course he was ■ a pilot' when his daddy's course 'was run.- v And he navigated vessels as his father's eldest .' . son. . ' •" . ,' . ;. ' There was a clever surgeon, = who . could cut off legs and arms, .■• - And invest an operation in a thousand nameless charms; He'd an': eldest boy who'd ■ never seen an ■■.-"• operation • done, . " , - But succeeded to the practice as his father's ". , eldest son." - ; There was a pious parson who, when folks Vto danger strolled, . . : Would perform the part' of shepherd and' restore them to the fold; . He'd a son, an unbeliever, but when Heaven ■.'.-■'•••,: that parson won. '.:/-*•/' >. There succeeded to his, pulpit his agnostic ■ eldest son. '■,--. . There-was. a judge who- ordered wicked .criminals to : gaol; ■ ■•:."■' * "■ He'd an-eldest son—a forger—who absconded -v from his" bail; , - - When that judge above was summoned through a tintnek in a bun, His vacant place was taken by his outlawed ' eldest.son. ■ ].' . *■•■-■ The pilot and the parson and the surgeon and the judge Were « all declared impostors, but they all " refused to budge; ■• ' . • What mattered lack of -knowledge or the evil they had done, ■ While each claimed his proud position as his father's eldest son? / . • '; God ! preserve :' the find old . fetish, full of . sweetness and of light, . That : big . bulwark of our.. freedom called . " Hereditary Right!" . ' Which, to driveller and drunkard and the dastard virtue shuns, :■: > " .' ■'■'•■■'■' Means the . right to govern Britain in the ■ _ llouso of eldest sons. ■'. sea-fog. '-.: . - The sails drip idly, and no band can steer; The blank tog, redolent of gloom and death. Smooths the cowed ocean to a stagnant mere, And eno. dark nothingness;' a. prospect drear, Fulls, engulfs us ..with .-its icy breath. The pair, lookout,. his lonely watch to keep, - ■. Stands shivering, .. peering'vainly through the " dense ■ Gray atmosphere,' whose dank, uneasy sleep Is faintly shaken as chill whispers creep - Athwart .11 silence audible, intense. , The ship lies atifled, longing for the brave Fresh breeze,-whose'sunny ■ breath will lift the ' --pall, '"- ■ : ■ -'- - . And resurrect Iter from her .dismal grave, -. Fill her white-wings, and waft her o'er the wave, Setting her dancing to the ocean's call. , . , . .' N Jr/LIAJT TUNISOjr." '