BALLADE OF MY DESIRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 70

BALLADE OF MY DESIRE.

O the ba.l!ade o' things I'd like to be Has a very mean theme, but a long refrain: To simply be heir of eternity. And link the worlds' with a iyric-chnin To gather the fame-wealth few can gain To capture the sunlight and put' it' ia chime. And thus claim a voice when me sun doth wane, For my desire is to rhyme and to rhyme! Some are lovers, and love in glee, Others they draw or write novels or sta*n Big canvases with pictures dree, While friendly critics -cause them pain. Others tousle the fiea'e fleecy mane, And get washed full oft in its deepest slime ; But I always come back to my pleasure again, — For my desire is to rhyme and «o rhyme! Beer and blather, or gossip and tea,, Love in a garden or house-bred "disdain; Voices of toilers, or ■songs o' the free, - The dreams o' the living, the sleep o' the slain. Such are, perchance, not passing plain, And, in common parlance, not worth adime, But some there are careless, • and others quite sane, For my desire is to rhyme and to rliymel ENVOY. In the idlest stupor too long I have lain, So let me rise tip and capture old Time. You may find some fault with the way I've ta'en, For my desire is to- rhyme and to rhyme! ' — Laveetgbo.