MOANA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2379, 5 October 1899, Page 49

MO ANA.

I would I had thy hope of spring, Of flowers that come awaiting praise; That birds unfledged were yet to sing To me, as thee, Love's ancient lays. I would my fields were green like thine, With nooks and crannies unexplored, Where I might ramble to-eiitwine My youth with that in nature stored. I would I had thy golden locks, A careless trophy for the breeze; Thy hope of finding 'mid the rooks, A treasure of uufathomed seas. One hour to make a daisy wreath, A blissful joy you've yet to taste, Or ■wander shady groves beneath, With golden butterflies unchased. The roses of my life are blown, Too well their beauty kist the sun, I would have kept them had I known, But summer claimed them, one by one. Nor did I feel their loss, for still Each fading blossom left a bud, With promise of a flower, until Within a barren plot I stood. Sly butterflies are dead, their wings Were torn and mangled by the net; The tui to my memory sings S. song I fain he would, froget. I know that autumn hath its green, Its holly and its laurel too; That constant ivy clings between The mouldering wall and Heaven's blue. That fields of rustling corn must die, To build a tower of golden sheaves; But for one budding primrose, I Would give you all my autumn leaves. J. M.

Spreydou, September 1899,