AN ODE IN SPRING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2428, 26 September 1900, Page 68

AN ODE IN SPRING.

I thank Thee, God, for green and <*oi<len Spring ! ° Foi- Life thai, bursts to being at Thy Word Fo.-^ali the joy Thy miracle doth* bring 1< mailing- promises of many days ; I -with the birds and flowers wcuJd also raise My psalm of thanks m tifet I righily heard! ioi- even ere the tardy snow did melt, In cold and cheerless Winter have I 'felt My bronzed veins to stir with joyous beat ; I too have cornjnutied with the willow trees, Hawthprns, and beeches, when the chilly breeze Token' d no thought of Life save in the roots' And yet their bronzed veins like mine with heat Did i3ulse ; in tones of hope voice spake to Where tendrils green now side by side rejoice. Aye, deep amid the Winter's darls'ning gloom My bulbs of thought did force their hardy shoots Of giad'nmg life to meet the waking dawn : My heart responsive dower'd them with bloom, Goldeii and nch to greet Spring's happy morn! Yet deeper down the grains of deeper thought Have Invest and died that they might truly live ; In Spring's sweet tide no flowers have they biought — Asking fxcm her But soft) refreshing rain ; Fiom Summer, heat — to swell the golden grain ; From golden Autumn, honest toil to give — To reap the increase for the "Winter's dearth, Stores fox the thoughts, life for the weary brain, Food tor the hungry — seed to sow again — All golden blessings to enrich God's earth! Giant, too, oh, God, the gold of purer woith, And so perfect the seasons' golden, chain! — E. C. LEWIS. Dunedin, September 18.