VAGRANT VERSE

Southland Times, Issue 19772, 21 February 1923, Page 4

VAGRANT VERSE

WRIT IN BLOOD. (Written for the Southland Times.) At sunset hour I wandered on the shore And watched the waves that leapt with sullen roar; Full many a time there on the golden sand I wrote your darling name with eager hand; But higher, higher swept the swelling tide And washed each one away is fain to hide Thy cherished name from curious mocking eye Or careler glance of heedless passer-by. It matters not—your name is writ where eyes Can never *ce tho’ they may scrutinise With eafle vision: it is writ in blood. Blood of my heart, that not the mightiest flood Shall ever wash away. ’Tis written there All over, and in characters most fair Will there abide until the day when 1 Shall breathe your name with my last parting sigh. The tides of Time and Chance can ne’er efface That sacred name that I so often trace; Day after day but finds it clearer writ And firmer set till nought can ravish it. Hid in my breast, I sing it o’er and o'er Unto myself, and. when 1 am no more Let deftest surgeon sharpest scalpel wield That he that name unto the world may yield. —Robert Francis.