"THE BEGINNING AND THE END.

Otago Witness, Issue 1503, 4 September 1880, Page 24

"THE BEGINNING AND THE END.

two little, tender, shoots, peeped out from the rich moist earth, Pair shone the sun on their openingbuds, thesummer's gentle breath Waned o'er them both, and loving hands protected from drought or dearth, And she saw -with joy, how they throve and grew, her gentle care beneath. And each little embryo seemed to contain, the hope of a shapely pine, And in young brotherhoood they grew up amidst the warm, sweet weather; Arouud them pretty flowers sprang, that waved in the gay sunshine, And afl was peace, and rest, and love, as they grew tip together. Bestfully; thus passed the years, and refreshed by the gentle rain, The promise of their earlier years each seemed to fulfil; A chill wind yet would make them droop, yet aooa they would regain ateir pristine strength, and spring erect, fresher and stronger still. Then she who in the years gone by, with joy did use to mark, Each freshening shoot and opening bud with timid, exulting pride To see them growing stronger, more unpliable, and the bark, {tougher as each concentric ring was added— died. Then one was torn from hia native" earth, and sent far to sea, But the frail little argosy soon was wrecked and the waves with angry roar O'erwhelmed it, and struck it, and tossed it about, for a while in demoniac glee, Then right in the very midst of their strife, one great wave cast it ashore, With cruel force it threwit there, but its height had saved its life, Foi it left it where some earth there was, and a frail dinging plant there too, And in spite of the surging, piercing blast, 'on the edge of their restless strife Though battered and bruised, with many a scar, the stranger in some sort grew. Tfe« years had come and the years had passed, and the tree on the ocean strand, Its scars now hid by that climbing plant, which had clung to it brave and true, Attests by its gnarled distorted form, though touched by time's mellowing hand, The terrible violence of the storms, so far it hzd passed through. The other, nourished still by kindly hands, grew up and throve apace ; The strong old wall protected it, till radiant it could look The piercing, chilly frost of sternest winter in the face, And in deep-rooted majesty, its gusty winds did brook. But small the need ; for through long years, no frost or icy blast, Came near the stately towering pine, which seemed as 'twould aspire To overtoss all others in its pride. And thus the long years passed, ! And as time flew, its lofty top to heaven it stretched still higher. No stranger that saw that graceful one, so strong in its shapely pride, And the other, deformed and distorted so, with aspect half savage, half tame, Would think that they, erer in years passed by, as brothers grew side by side, Yet lay the axe to the root of both, you would find them at heart the same. Then the strong, the tall, the shapely [one, was struck by the lightning's flash, And the river bore it away to the "sea~;~and down from the crag's steep side It* slowly decaying roots and strength brought the other too with a crash, And in the dim, measurelessocean, now.they are once more side by side. E. S. August, 1880. FUTURITY. I 'Way down the vista of the coming years I stand, and lo ! unto my waking view, A scene, so brightly glorious appears ; It thrills my soul with pure ecstatic bliss.'' I scarce can tell the land I journey through, But yet it must :— Yes sure it must be this. But oh ! how fair it looks, how changed is all The praried features of this great lone land. Where, where are all those men — gaunt pinched and tall, Who toiled, with weary frame, and hopelessjieart, A sad, despairing, hope deserted band, ' I Each weary item, wearily doing 's part ? [ What river that which winds through yonder plain i Amidst the ripening crops of yellow corn? j What hamlets those that ever and again \'," Appear amidst those clumps of stately tree 3, With childrens voices, to my ear now borne In joyus strains, wafted on summer's breeze;? Can that the Taieri be, that gently flows, I Between those fertile fields, of promise fair ? And can those homes ; the picture of repose, Belong to that pinched, worn, and half-clad mass, Who in years past, did toil in sheer despair Of e'er escaping from that dreadful pass ? Yes ! it is so :— The hideous nightmare's o'er, The land supports the people ; they the land, And men from o'er the seas are duped no more By wily speech, of grasping fellow worm, Who cared for candour less than does the sand Of the deep sea care for the howling storm. Nemo. August, 1880.