MART JANE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2371, 10 August 1899, Page 49

MART JANE.

O Mary Jane, lost Mary Jane, How sweet thy ' smile ton years ago— Thy brown eyes' glance held like a chain Whene'er their opal lights did glow. Thy voice was soft, O Mary Jane, But full and rich, and strangely sweet; Thy face — ah! rivals did maintain 'Twas not a perfect face complete. But, Mary Jane, bright Mary Jane, Yours was tho charm which carries sway — Your sinuous grace made rivals plain, When in the waltz you whirled away. Ah! Mary Jane, lost Mary Jane, Thy charms as memories still I sec— - Thy day is past. 'Twas not in vain. For sweet and kind you fain •would be. August, 1899. HNIKAU PALM-

! SCARLfeT POPPXISS. From a cleft in the rock where mosses and ferns S With reverent touch were lingering aigh, ' Some bright scarlet poppies you gathered for me, And the 3un from the leaves kissed a sigh. Alone in their beauty, they guarded the shade Of the white beetling rocks, half cave and half dell, Where th' Fairy Queen, Nature, had dressed up i a bow'r j And tho wild birds their songs chose to swell. j And the soft winds of summer their sweet songs of love , In low whispers told to the lawyer and vine, And beguiled the soft tendrils in loving caress Kound ' the broadleaf and tree trunks to twine. I bore them away, those bright blossoms of j love, j While light thro' their petals the bright sun- { beams strayed, ■ ' And we wandered along o'er th' velvety grass j T-hat bedecked the rich downs and the glade, j 'Along castle-like rocks in convolvuli-clad i j And picturesque towers pointing up to the ' sky, • ■ , Thro' the clear silent valley, fit home for Boj mance, j With the crystal Waihao flowing by. ' And tho' those gay blossoms are faded long »yne, Yet bright scarlet poppies within their gay bells Havo hidden a charm that transports me once more To tha Waihao's green banks and its dells. M. A. J. WALL. Waitahuna, July, 1899. j •