VAGRANT VERSE
THE ORETI ANTHOLOGY. 387.—Samuel Butler, author of “Erewhon.” (Written for the Southland Times.) Here on the wide clean Canterbury Plains, Where westward rise the Alps, so nobly spread, And rivers follow shingley beds to find The blue Pacific, your presence is not fled. About me, silence and magnificence, Nature, though dumb, yet stirs the heart to pain; Here’s mountain magic, but without pretense ; And newness which gains all the world’s disdain. Out here your muse was fed, and from this air She took the acid which has made your name As bitter and as lonely as this place Which shared your hardships, and now shares your fame, 388.—Change. The hours are peaceful, and the air is still, The river hardly moves its bank between, This is a silent country, plain and hill, And swampland scrub, add leisure to the scene. But this shall fall before a city’s spread, And noise shall take the river by its tide, And on the plain a brave tower raise its head, Nor once again shall beauty be denied. —Southerner. Invercargill. April 4, 1931.
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Bibliographic details
Southland Times, Issue 21384, 4 May 1931, Page 6
Word Count
181VAGRANT VERSE Southland Times, Issue 21384, 4 May 1931, Page 6
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