AT THE SIGN OF THE LYRE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1260, 23 April 1896, Page 12

AT THE SIGN OF THE LYRE.

ORIGINAL VERSE. SPRI N G . (Specially writ ten for the Nca: /."aland Mail.) Oli, happy, hopeful Springtime— The childhood of the year Our loneliness \vc would forget And join in thy good cheer. Tho birds and blossoms all rejoice, And whorefor should not wo In sweet contentment raise our voice With Nature's melody? From selfish sorrow set- us free, O God, whoso name is Love, Till satisfaction fills our souls lu endless Spring above. J.M. Montrose, N.B. “BRUNNER.” 189(1. (Specialty written for the Nca' Zealand Mail.) Low roll of mitllli"! thunder, broad sheets of blood-red light, Quick, quivering shocks of rifted rocks, Then silence-deep as night. Above the wives and children; below—nigh seventy men, Bruised and battered, disfigured and shattered, And mangled—out of ken. Dead at the post of duty, not one to tell tho tale Of the tight for breath, the swift, sharp death, 'J he courage—of none avail. Cut off in the prime of manhood, scarce fimo to breathe a prayer, The death angel came, in t moke and flame, And smote his victims there. “Comrades, all to the rescue !” Well they answered the call - h'umara and Brunner, Rccfton and Grey, With the swarthy sons of Blackball. Daring the deadly fire-damp, toiling with might and main, Halt-choked they fell—a trifling “spell”— Each took his “turn” again. Honour the, grand endeavour, honour tho heroes all, Kumar,a, Brunner, Rccfton and Grey, And the miners of Blackball.

Nobly you did your duty. Would God that you had prevailed ! But the deed of that day shall ne’er pass away, Although your efforts failed.

Honour the women who helped yon, stifling their feminine, fears, Doing their parts, though with nigh broken hearts And anguish-laden tears.

Theirs was, perchance, tho harder task, to watch and wait and—weep, While with nervous dread they thought of their dead, Wrapped in a last, long sleep.

God help the fatherless children, and comfort the husbandless wives, The grief-stricken mothers, sisters and brut hers, Who mourn 10.-l human lives. Zealandia ! loose now your purse-strings, the need looms large enough; Child, woman and man will assist if they can, From North Capo to the Bluff. W. Belwoiitiiy. SELECTED VERSE. AT PARTING. By Clara Dargan Maclean. As back upon Hie troubled sea A storm-tossed mariner may gaze, And fold Ins hands in mute amaze And silent offer thanks and praise, So may I stand when far from thee, All passion past, heart-whole and free ! It is not fate which intervenes, And neither charge I time nor change, But only that great power and strange That rules us whorcso’cr we ritngo ; It gives the strength to flee these scenes And from tho past my spirit weans. Yes, weary of our happiness We might have been il we wore wed ; And tho’ your heart and mine have bled (.Per visions pant and memories lied, 11 .'re let us part! Be this caress The la'-t, that ever love shall bless !