Re-Incarnate.

NZ Truth, Issue 1043, 21 November 1925, Page 1

Re-Incarnate.

minim' "wiHiiHNiiniiuinH/ufiiHiMiflMim^ , I, have been down to the ! gates. of Death; To the, gates of Death and back again, My limbs grew stiff with its icy breath, My eyes were dim with it's blinding pain, My spirit trembled, and faltered, shrank As it entered m Death's gloomy vale; And stung with the bitter draught 1 drank, My tongue was dumb and my lips grew pale. Death of the Dead, or the living grave. Bounded about with prisoning walls, Where is the heart that can be quite brave, Feeling no fear when the Shadow falls? Where is the soul that no envy, feels, Of those with kheir lives before them yet, When the mist of Death about them steals, And the Grave bids them the world forget? I have been down to the Gates of Death, Driven and hunted and worn, and spent, Leaving the stars and thi niaht's sweet breath, By the seven gates th»t Istar went., Standing before the grim portals there* Tender and human and living still, Bound by a Fate m an office chair, , Bound by a Fate that would brook no will. * v Then came the clamor of swift release,' ■ Eternity m a moment fled, And reeling with shock of swif.t surcease, The world came back m a blurr of red. A life-time gone, and a life-time won> My wond'ring spirit was, born again, To ponder on much the Fates had done, And think more kind of the; world of men. Out from the dark to the twinkling light, Of friendly streets and the city's glare; And I thank Good God for the dust to-night, And the thousand smells that lade the air, ' When I think that I nearly lost the world, With its sun and mo<-n, and men, and stars, I can love m the song that's round me skirled, The kindly clatter and clang of cars. ARTEMUS H.—