Select Poetry.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 422, 13 March 1880, Page 3

Select Poetry.

THE IRON PEN.

Meade from a Fetter of Bonnivard, the Prisoner of Ghillon; the Handle of Wood from the Frigate Constitution, and bound with a Circlet of Gold, inset with three precious Stones from Siberia, Ceylon, and Maine.

By Henry W. Bongfellow. I thought this Pen would arise From the casket where it lies — Of itself would arise, and write My thanks and my surprise. "When you gave it me tinder the pines, I dreamed these gems from the mines Of Siberia, Ceylon, and Maine Would glimmer as thoughts in the lines ; That this iron link from the chain Of Bonnivard might retain Some verse of the ppet who sang Of the prisoner and his pain; That this wood from the frigate's mast Might write me a rhyme at last, As it used to write on the sky The song of the sea and the bias* - . But motionless as I wait, Bike a bishop lying in state Lies the Pen, with its mitre of gold, And its jewels inviolate. Then must I speak, and say That the light of that summer day In the garden under the pines Shall not fade and pass away. I shall see you standing there, Caressed by the fragrant air, With the shadow on your face, And the sunshine on your hair. I shall hear the sweet low tone Of a voice before unknown, Saying, " This is from me to you— From me, and to you alone." And in words not idle and vain I shall answer, and thank you again For the gift, and the grace of the gift, O beautiful Helen of Maine ! And for ever this gift will be As a blessing from you to me, As a drop of the dew of your youth On the leaves of an aged tree. — Harper's Magazine.