Another Beach Bard.

Samoanische Zeitung, Volume 23, Issue 30, 27 July 1923, Page 7

Another Beach Bard.

•SIVCiS OP SAMOA. Great men have been ; great men at ill are: i hey come, they go; by Favour kissed. ror niu, I »iew no gate ajar— Fuir Fortune's shrine my stupe have missed. What matters? Ukulclea twang In Southern Seas, where I respire Ami native swords were wont to clang While Stevenson attuned his lyre. Now other days have other ways : .The lyre fies deep in Vaea Hill, V\ hile on "The Beach ' a motley maze Of modern liars fill the bill. Romance iH here—as in the days When Stevenson was yet alive, .And voyagers like 'Bully Hayes" Sunk supercargoes fathoms five. Around Apia the palm trees wave ; Brown damsels still express the juice (Froin knvaroom) which white men crave, Now alcohol is bo«red from use ; The liosnn b'rd still flaunts his plume Of stream ng white athwart he sea. And crimson sivis the days illume And ftangipaui scents the lea. Great hill tops ringed with palms look down On palm-clad plains, all glorious green, Where easy toil may earn a crown (Or sometimes eight ami sixpence, e'en) For just one century of pounds Of buu-dried coconut. Content Is for the nati.e then ! He bounds To moving-picture shows that tempt. If ueitjhb'ring isles the rovers seek, Craft older than themselves convey, With mroy a labouring heave and creak, Through reefs which bid the whe man pray. Not nil t<re wise ! But many fare Afar in search of health or change, To breathe a more salubrious air Or'deep with groundling fishes range ! Come joy, come woe, the swi't days go ; Months rustle past and years impend ; If tempest come as passing foe Great spans of sunshine make amend. These are the islands of the blest ; Here pcaoelul ife inukei pleasant day, And turmoils of the triviug West l!ut ramble fai'it, and pass away. BILLY IHE BIRD. Apia, 19-23.