WHEN RIVERTON PLAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2664, 5 April 1905, Page 72

WHEN RIVERTON PLAYS.

They're dancing to-night in the township, The hall is aflare with the gas: There Is mirth for the heart of a bnshmju

And' joy in the eye 3of a lass. They have nailed the gay flags By the doorway, The green ferns droop low from the walls, And softly the dancers are waltzing To slow music that rises and falls. There's a stage at the end; a piano— The back once was lined with green baize,— And the brown, tarnished keys wake to quaint melodies When " Dare-devil " Riverton plays. He sits with his back to the dancers,

His hand trembling over each note, And his clothes they are shabby and faded ; And the tie that hs wears at his throat

Is threadbare with wear of the seasons ; His collar is frayed at the edge, And the hat on the chair clo=e beside him

Could well be ay.-ay on some ledge. " A wreck of a man " they will tell you, And one " who has seen better daj-s " ; But ths folk seem to danca in the worlds of romance When " Dare-devil "' Riverton plays. Handsome yet, but withal dissipated,

On the wrong side of fifty to-night, He slips his swift hand from the kejboar.il And wearily turns to the light. Awhile at the revellers gazing. He passes his hand o'er his brow. And the jjtist from the present awakens. And the old loves come forth to him now; And, smiling, the old folk are waiting On the steps of the years he -auiveys, As they waited, maybe, in the lost years ere he Was "only somebody who pUj=. ' Again he can see the gay dancers of his ymith

In that far-Rwai* land, The old fuends come crowding around him; He feels the light touch on his hand Of the girls that he led to the ballroom

In that fair English home that he kne>v. Where the roses climbed high at the window, And the scarlet geraniums grew. He dreams of a face that was fairer . . . God, why was he reckless always! . . " The Lancers," they call— the dream curtams fall ;

±Ie turns to the keyboard and plays. A young man, hot-blooded and headstrong, They tell how he came years ago ; " Came in for his share of the money, But squandered or drank it, yon knuw." " Girl in the case, so they say, sir ; And that is the truth, "you can bet ; Has led a rough life here and theie, sir;

Hard case, but a gentleman yet l " . . . . . . . Bent low by the stage, in the sh.idow, His touch o'er the finger-board strays, And the folk seem to dance in the balls of romance When "Dare-devil" Favtiton plays.

— E. L. EtaE.

Auckland, Mait-h, 1005.