VERSE OLD AND NEW

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17130, 4 September 1926, Page 9

VERSE OLD AND NEW

VYALKINC DOWN TO KI'AV

The scoul uj" growing grasses; ilie white wild-parsley flower: A tiny brown wren darling through the willow's friendly screen— Silver willows swaying whore the stately poplars tower— Blue speedwell by tin 1 pathway: the wtiler-uceils' fresh, green: The wide-spread, lifting' swoop of the old grey heron's flight: The heavy chestnut fans that east a shadowy noonday night: Cool bronze-green lily leaves: purple toad-flax on ;t wall: Beneath Hie finches charter, the brown bees' steady hum: "\Yann, roving breezes stirring: the kind sky over all —

And those arc only some Of the many things to view, By the river shore at Richmond Walking down to Kew.

When the fires of love and friendship uio u feeble, fading' glow, And the vivid hues of living arc a Will' -of grey attd dun. When both joy and grief are savourless, still one Thing I shall know. Spile of failing', fainting senses, the hist thing vha!' will fade is the glamor of the old g-reon earth that rbv the Word was made.

And that was only one Of the many things I knew By the river shore at Richmond, Walking down to Kew, —Agnes-Mary Lawrence, MASEFIELD 'S PHILOSOPHY. The moral of John Masoheld's life and work is shrewdly summed op in the letters composing"the title of his hist novel, "Odrati'•'--"One Damned Thing After Another. " The pool has ever been true to his mission, as set forth in the oft quoted "Consecration ":-- Not the ruler for me, but the ranker, the tramp of the roads, The slave with the sack on his shoulders, pricked on with the goad; The .man with too weighty a burden, too weary a load.

The sailor, the stoker of steamers, the man with the clout, The chantyman 'bent at the halliards putting a tune to the shout, The drowsy man at the wheel and the tired look-om.

Others may sing of the wine, and the wealth, and the mirth,. The portly presence of potentates goodly in girth — Mine be the dirt and flie dross, the dust and scum of the earih.

Theirs be the music, the color, the glory, the gold; Mine tie a handful of ashes, n mouth fill of mould. Of the maimed, of the halt, and the blind, in the rain and the cold— Of these shall my songs he fashioned. my taltvs fie told. Amen. < WATTLES. Who could be surly? Who would be sad? When the gay wattles Bid us be glad? Born in the sunlight Favored and free. Every Australian Joyous should be. Wattles in springtime, Wattles in bloom, High roads and bush And hearts they illume. Subtly their fragrance Steals through the air Wafted like incense . N Subtle and rare. Blithely their blossom:'. Shimmer with gold. Proudly they carry Treasure untold. Sunshine aglowing, Caught by the trees. Gleams as our <emblem Kissed by the breeze. Truly enamored. Sunshine and breeze, Just for remembrance Dowered these trees. Long may they vision Youthful emprise, Hearts that are daring, Souls that are wise. —A. E. Sulman, in Sydney Daily Telegraph.