Poets' Corner.

Otago Witness, Issue 1584, 1 April 1882, Page 25

Poets' Corner.

Lap me in soft Lydian airs. Married to immortal verse.

— MiWON.

A MEMORY OF THE PABTAh me, I mind me of a time, deep in the buried WhenlVope's bright beams around my eoul, their gentle radiance cast ; . T .. ,_ _. . And through the gathering mist of years i dtmiy see WhoKndly glow, along my path, made all thlngfl fair TheSsSce,' whose welcome smile, in fancy greets Alth"u$ e the Bun that gilded life in darkness now is We l1v!ld our bright, brief day of joy, my darling love

And not one cloud with darker shade was borne across We wandered in the pleasant fields when summer days And W cunedthe flowers by forest streamß, and heard We'lriteSby the broad'sea shore, to hear its mystic OomTwlling in, with heaving swell, across ten We woSed^ttieir wild, deep voice, and what strange tales it told— , , ' Of buried isles, and once-loved forms, and pearls] and ' ' ' gems, and gold ; . .>. . Our days flew P Mt in love and peftce> onr g , dreams of joy ; We sipped the nectar from the flowers, whose sweets We lived in the light of that sweet love— tho purest thing of earth— , Fair as the stars in heaven set, or God, who gave it

Our hearts were young, and hope was strong, and we lived for the present day, . . And we knew not that the gathering night wa3 closing

. round our way. ; ».,»••■ One morn I missed my heart's young love, where we were wont to meet ; In vain I listened for her voice, with its music soft

anduweet. , , , That day I went about my work like one in a troubled i dream, And all things fair about me, cast in deepest gloom did seem; a , , My comrades jeered my absent ways, my fixed and vacant stare, . _ . , . But, ah I they could not know the pain I had in silence to bear. , „ All day, with slow and siokemng Bpeed, the weary hours crept past— The closing time of toil came round, and I was free at WltbTbeating heart and hurried step, I sought my ' ! loved-one's bower, -But what I heard at that sad time, still haunts me to , . this hour : I learned that fever's dire eclipse had seleed my

darling's brain, And she was tossing on a bed of agony, and

That night I Bpent in fervent prayer to Him' who rules on high. And begged that He, in mercy gieat, would hear my Thrwh anxious days and weary nights my plaint was ' ', still the same, , But o'er my troubled spirit's stream no breath oi ■ •' 'comfort came — ■ ■My heart's sweet image moaning lay, with the light o i. reason gone, ' ■ , While .dimmer grew the beaming eyes that once so .^.brightly shone. ' f ', : Id rain the patient mother's tears, or father's fondest

No'powe'rof earth' could stay the tide— the hand of death' was there; > , At length she woke and gazed around, like one juat „ . roused from sleep, She missed my face— she called my name, with feeling ", " strangely deep. They brought me to her dying bed, to see her pass ■j (JOur Father, God, had called his child, and none, could " -bid her stay. ,' * Weep not for me/ she fondly said, in accents low and •Though here we part, 'tis not for long; in Heaven we shall meet/ ■ With one white arm around mo thrown, my darling

■ passed from earth, And on my cheek, all Boftand warm, I felt her patting

breath ; Ah, then, it seemed, the light of life f torn out my soul was flown, And I must wander through the world forsaken and

alone. Since then I've passed through stirring scenes of danger, toil, and death, Bat etill I feel upon my cheek my daritag'e dying breath. Time, with its balm and healing winga, can not erase the name, Deep graven on my aching heart by love's eternal , flame. , When clinging to the sinking wreck, my comrades deemed me brave, . But pale and mute, with quivering lip, I stand beside her grave ; Ye who are cast in rougher mould parehance may deem me weak, But 'neath that sod there is a spell has. power to blanch my cheek. .Long years have fled, and life's dull flame begins to feebly burn, And soon to GoJ, from whom it came, my spirit must return ; But stronger, deeper grows the love entwined about my heartj ' As nearer comes the time when we shall meet to never part.

F. A. J. Db Conde;