THE QUICKSAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2561, 6 May 1903, Page 69

THE QUICKSAND.

This is the way to the nether word, Be>ieath wheie the tangled weeds are swirled, Beiieath where the shade of the mountains He, Dwarfed in terrestrial majesty. Theie, pearls are nothing and gold is dross, And sailors gone on their bosoms cross Their toil-stained hands, while their smiles con-

fess The charm of eternal idleness. AVho love the flowers oa the mountain side, And the ebb and the flow of the crystal tide, Stand back irom the spot where the weeds sre

swirled, For this is the way to the nether world. This is the way to the mermen caves, Away from the foam, away from the waves. From his castle wall, where the blown hawks

swing, To test the pride of ihe Ocean King, A warrior rode in his coat of mail His lance was coucliPd, hut no avail, Who court the Sea King's awful glsnce Have other arms than mail and lance, So the warrior passed to the silence grand, Through the lockless gates of shifting sand — Away from the waves, a.nd away from the foam, For this is the way to tha mermen home. This is the way that the spirit goes From its faithless friends and its heartless foes, X-> herald is here with i parchment scroll To gladden the ear 3of the passing soul. The rags of the poor and the robes of the high, All creased, at the gates of the ocean lie. Yet many there are on the shore that weep Because of the billows that laugh and leap Fiom morning till evening, bejewelled with

spray, Above whero their darlings are gone for aye. But even while v.-eeping a call is heard Through the mist, like the voice of an ocean

bird, And, taking the path that their loves havo

ta'en, The lost and the weeping are joined again, Beneath where the tangled weeds are swirled, For this is the way to the Spirit World. — J. Maclenxan. Te Kohanga, Dunedin, April, 1903.