VERSE OLD AND NEW

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17088, 17 July 1926, Page 10

VERSE OLD AND NEW

THE MAX WHO THINKS HE CAN

K you think you arc beaten, you are. If you ibink you dare not, you doa't 11' you'd like "to win but think you can't Jt \s almost a cinch vou won't.

IT you think you'll lose, you've lost, For out in the world wo find Success begins with a fellow's will— It's all in the state of mind.

ll' vou think you're outclassed, you are You've got to think high to rise. You've got to he sure of yourself Before you can win a prize.

Life's battle don't always go To the stronger or faster man, But sooner or later the man who wins Is the man who thinks he can. THE OLD WOMAN. As a white candle In a holy place; So is the beauty Of an aged face. As the spent radiance Of the winter sun; So is a woman With her travail done, Her brood gone from her, And her thoughts aro still As the waters Under a ruined mill. —James Campbell. A PUAYEIL Give me my shelves of books, the hooks I love, A seasoned vintage of the fruitful past; Fill my tobacco-jar—a pipe will prove In every mood a faithful friend mid fast; And help my fiddle to a better tone: It scrapes a hit unless tin? mute be on.

Hang me a print or two upon my walls— The woodcuts of the 'sixties I adore; And when in May the dawning sumiper calls. Bring hack my boyhood's joy in hill and moor,. To hear the wild bird singing in the blue And feel that all tho earth is heaven too.

Let me not idle be. Grant mo the fame Of doing something, ere tho shadows fall. That shall live after me and bear my name With credit clown the stream of time, when all Whom I have loved shall silent lie with me With folded hands beneath the churchyard tree.

And when at last I hear tho evening bell, May there be one beside me tried and true, Holding my hand and whispering "All is well. We two shall meet again, dear love, w r o two." So shall I lay my head on Death's kind breast, And not uphopeful enter on my rest. —H. WAValbrook. PAIR HAVEN. Said I to myself: "Why sit ye down In tho dreary dust of a dull old town: While ye are eager and strong and young, \ Not like the hulks ye live among f What do ve here, with the tired and old" •» Who doze in the sunlight, their tales all told? There are paths untrodden and tales unkenned, And the luck o' tho world at the rainbow's end!"

So I rose and followed the grass-grown road Down to the shore where the ebbtide flowed; The ships were clearing for ports afar, And I sailed with the first across the bar! Many a heaving lengue we crossed, And many a storm our vessel tossed, And many and many a year went byWhile I wandered under an alien sky.

j Bower of beauty and lilt of song— They lured mo not as I passed, along! Fame and fortune—jewels and gold— They tempted others, but left me 'cold! Welcome and rest —content and friend, Naught I lacked at my journey's end; For the luck o' s tho world has set me down In The blessed peace of the little town! —M. L. Jackson. ALL'S WELL. One day niy grandson squirmed upon ihe floor, Ate, 1 was eating tea and cakes galore As ever yours,, round about ten and three. Grandma on guard was sitting next to .me. By the same token 'Uvas the verandah floor Whore he was kicking as I said before. Well, all at once the lad began to roll Over and over like a roley pole, Right to the very edge of the abyss. A drop of four foot six or more than this. He rolled- in safely, but it's time to shift hint So I got up prepared to gently life him, When grandma discerning me, manlike too slow Jumped to her feet, and stooping down to go To his assistance, felt her heels give way iOn the damp boards. Alack and wellI a-day . Struck him amidships. Oh, th>' poor wee lamb! I just had time to niter one quudt prayer When out he shot, and curving through j the air, Landed full soon upon his poor old "j turn ; Fair on a bed of choice ehrysanthe- ; mum. 'The Avelkin rang with shouts and I bitter cries, I In grandma's soothing arms he quickly ■i lies, } Quite satisfied. And if yon choose to 'I doubt it, '. I asked him; he'd forgotten all about it. —John Toniblcson.