SONNETS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1855, 10 June 1887, Page 29

SONNETS.

XVI. I recollect when childhood was a play, With life a g«rden full of precious flowers, No thought for the to-morrow, but to-day A bright inheritance of sunny hours; Say not that dreams of childhood never fade, Nor that the present tastes not of the pa«t; - Such dreams recall what still must be obeyed Ay if inclined to plead unto the last. All innocence at first the child contrives, Through eye and ear to learn of good and ill, With mind attentive unto other's lives, And all that passes moulded on its will; Deal kindly by the child, for it will aim, In future years to be in part the same. XVII. The overture of life is so designed. That childhood bears its impress evermore, To tend the after current of the mind, As relative to what as gone before. The man of sense abides by Nature's laws, Upholds a creed accepted as the truth, With settled habits, all of which claim cause, Though having had beginning iv his youth. Age is attained as night succeeds the day, Bright dreams grow dim when youth and hope are gone, Dear ones depart—yea, friendships fast decay, Ambitiou dies, but memory lives on; Ah 1 memory thy limits are unknown, Of which the conscience estimates alone.

—Esmond.