ON THOSE TUSSOCKY VALLEYS AND TUSSOCKY HILLS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2273, 23 September 1897, Page 42

ON THOSE TUSSOCKY VALLEYS AND TUSSOCKY HILLS.

On those tuesocky v*lleys and tuieockv hills Where the wild wind rides at tho pace that kills. With nothing to hamper or check the speed Or alter the course of its unseen steed ; Whore nn ocean of tussock-like water shows On its rippling bosom the way it blows As the wind sweeps o'er it and wavelets makes Like those on a plsiyfully wind-kissed lake's. While the nin glares down with its ardent gaza In midsummer's lazy and languid days Through the long, long hours betwixt dawn and

.larkAll joyous to none but the soariog lark. On those tussocky valleys «nd tussoeky hills Where the wild wind rides at the paco th*t kills From the hour of dawn till the twilight grey There's a etraugo voice speaks in a weird, wild

way. And it si>»»kß to the lonely passer-by In its plaineit tones when the night is nigh— When the shades steal out with a shoetly tread. And down o'er the valleys their dark forms spread. What it eayeth he knows not, but «oon he feela • As if eoinethisfc uncanny beside him utealfl, And he longs for the fight of a huruah face Or glimpse of a house in this uncouth place, luvercargill, September 1897. — T. H. T.