A GLIMPSE OF LANDSCAPE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1715, 11 January 1905, Page 13

A GLIMPSE OF LANDSCAPE

I stood afar on a mountain peak The landscape to survey, The dim, blxxe streaks of skyline, And the hill-tops bare and gray. I gazed o’er* the stretch of landscape That, lay disclosed to view Like some mighty panorama ’Neath a canopy of blue. The great extending bushland, The -snow on the summits high, Theix* craggy heads uplifting To the cloud-flecked dome of sky. And the glorious grass-clothed valley* Clad in its soft, green fleece, With its ceaseless singing of Avaters, And aspect of perfect peace. I scanned the distant horizon Where the sun Avas loav to depart. And I learned how artists glory In the presence of their art. The Avestern sky is crimsoned, The daylight fades aAvay; For the king of light is setting In all his grand array. The shadows deepen and lengthen, And the night draAvs on apace. Like a great dark veil, descending To coA r er the monarch’s face. The lamps are lib in the heavens, And the picture- fades from vieAV, For the landscape and all its beauties Are 'mantled in garments neAv. And the twinkling star’s in the distance Shine out, through the mist and dew. Like the shining of clearest dewdrops Set in a A’ault of blue. But my spirits fled Avith the daylight, And I pine for the curtained skies To be lit with the dawning’s splendours, And gladden my longing eyes. For the shades of night and its shadows Are solemn and calm as a tomb; I yearn for the sun and his glories The darkness to illume. —J. O. Munro, Tailiape.