TO A RIVER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2161, 25 July 1895, Page 45

TO A RIVER.

River of the backland country t how I long to see thfrhead Of the mossy spring you start from, 'neath some gorge's stony bed. There to watch in ahady coolness by your crystal falling spring, There to let my fancy ponder where your silvery ripples ring, For I know you have a message bearing to the mighty sea, And I long to see the headland where your secret hid must Be. By your sweeping, graceful winding you a story have to tell Of your home among the mountains, o'er some crystal falling well. Back in regions by sad rocklands, where you're leaping over mounds Shining in some golden valley, fast beneath those screening grounds, 'Neath some landscapes where the mountains seem to touch the fleecy cloud, There you fall in teeming torrenti, there your song must sing aloud, . Playing with the drooping branches growing on your dazzling brink, Kicsmg all the fallen leaflets as they in your bosom sink ! c 'Tis so haid to think I'm longing just to see your hiding place, And to hear your gentle murmuring as I gaze into your face. Do* you hail from stony passes or in sloping shady groves, Or in vales among the mountains where the sunbeam never goes, Or from i anges clad with snowdrift where the icy glaciers shine, Where man's foot has never trodden far beyond the human line? Here, perhaps, while I am longing for a vision of your breast, You are' waiang for the waters coming down the snowy crest Your brigUt waters, ever flowing, never tire or rest a day, Always rolling, always teeming, winding on your toilsome way. Do you come from far-off legions where the world knows you not, 'Mid the scorchiDg golden sunbeams where 'tis always nu-lting hot, Where the tangled matngauri droops its head for ftesli'ning ram, And the toe-toes kiss the rapus on Eome dismal swampy plain, Where the quartz reef, h'd with mosses, keeps its golden heait obEcuicd, And the nuggets by the thousand on some sandy bar are strewed, Where the reeds are lying in patches 'neath the tutsock'a fleecy ledge, And t he birds reflect their plumage mirrored in the water"b edge? 'Mong those steep and sleepy hollows where 'tis ■weird with gha-stly blocks, Under cliffs so dark and craggy, echoes riuging through the rocks, And the hawk tha high above you at one sound will lake his flight To hid -wizened, peaky mantion on some lonely .piercing height, / Where the mopoke knows uo daytime, covered in with black pine trees, And the witheied -leaved manuka \vhtetle3 in the wafiing bre ze — There alone you may find quietness in those shady daikened lands, And the wildttowere bloom in fragrance far away from living hands 1 If it's there, then stop my fretting, take me to that dream j home, Where I'll rest from worlds of paining on your fragr.int lauds to roam ; There amoi ; g your strands to wander where the desert sings its ions, Just to let my wildest fancy Ttst at ease the whole day long ; And to ha\e in dreams before me ere my thoughts* could stray afar < One bright glimpse of where you come from, one short glimpse of what you are, , J 1 ' . There to hold the silvery tingsii-g of the fronds that overlook Certain tieasures deep embedded in some secret ! hollow nook, ' Ear lands of my passing fancy 'l river of my childhood's dreams ! How 1 1 >ng to rest in quietness where you catch the mountain stream?, There upon your banks to linger till the tears have filled my eyes, Just to cast my burden from me underneath your azure skies. ■ Glorious --tars in glittering raiment are reflecting in your deep, Moonbeams hover o'er your ripples, catchirig glimpses" of your sweep ; Rocks are stationed there for ages, often cry and long to know, Yet you never heed their calling, never tell them where you go ! Take my life within your bosom to your sad secluded vale. To the realms where you are dreaming in that land from whence you hail, There to rest and feel your gladness, to divulge your secret zeal — Know my thoughts so full of longing, see the angu sh that I feel ! If my life would stand the tes>tiDg and my strength would i.ever tire, I woti d -,eek your far-off birthplace just to have my last desire ; For 1 knuw within those regions freedom there is widely spread ! Troubles there would never find me, footsteps there could never tread. Waters of unexplored region, is the gulf so wide between ? Tell me, Js it past all hoping, past all power to test my dream ? Ia the anchor fast around me that my course I cannot hteer Till I leave this laud behind me for the higher heavenly sphere ? Yet 1 know the time is coming when this world of ours is past, And we'll meet with Him in glory, every trouble from us cast. Then our wrongs will be arighted when the far-off goal is wou, And we bow in resignation, for we know God's will be done ! Dunediu, July 16. W. H. F.