POETEY. TARAWERA.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 160, 10 July 1886, Page 1

POETEY. TARAWERA.

Night, Sleep, and Silence brooded o'er the place; Their dark-browM sister, Death, crouched oloae at hand ; The moon gave one sad glance, then hid her f«o« Behind the sombre clouds that draped the land. Higbt, • Sleep, and Silence fled : A roar t A quake ! Peal after peal of thunder! Flakes of smoke— And stiong convulsions made the mountains shake. As if from dungeons deep the Titans broke. Vieroe tongues of flame shoe up to lap the clouds, Volcanoes belch'd their lava in the air, Jagged projectiles tore the sable shroud 8 That veil'd the moon; while through the gloom and glare Whirlwinds of meteors shot round and round, And blood-red dragons, yoked to blazing cars, Bursting from Tartarus, with frantic bound, Plunged on through thunder bolts and lightning bars. Pregnant with horror, from the Stygian deep Roiled out in columns dense Hell's sulph'rous fumes. And over Tarawera's highest steep Enfranchised demons waved their flaming plumes. The waters shriek'd, and orash'd the mountain's wail In boiling cauldrons, roaring in their rage ; Deep ohaem and vortex yawn'd and Bwallow'd all The wonders that had lived through many an age. How small is man— how feeble his distress! When nature's evil passions are up siirr'd, Poor h man atoms sink to nothingness, Their agonising criee are all unheard. Unheard by ua oelow ; but far above The earthquake's thunder, there are mansions where The tones of anguish and the notes of love, The ory for mercy, and the fervent prayer, Rise o'er the groans of mountains. God can hear His children's earnest pleadings ; He can see The mother heeding o'er her darling's bier— ThesufTriDg spirit struggling to be free. A fljing thought ! Are human souls th<; fame, Nathless the hue and textur - of the skin ? We prize the picture ai d regard th» frame Juac as we do the oase for that within. If pure and shapely— be it black or white - It matters not the outside of the mould ; The diamond set i*- copper shines as bright ' As that encircled in the finest gold. Upon the morning of that fearful day God's handmaid, Duty, saw brave spirits eh me, She noted not the colour of the clay That held such souls ; she caw the ray divice. Which flash'd in noble deeds and won a crown Of highest worth - a costly diadem — Theirs for all future fine is true renown ; Angels shall praise and men shall honour them. They're with us yet ; but should we meurn the dead? Weep if you will— tears sometimes bring reliefSorrow is ours to-day, not theirs who've fled— Beyond the grave they know not earthly grief. The world will soon forget them ;- race on race In quick succession move across life's plain. Others shall come, but we cannot replace That 'witching scene— it will not come again. -Why should we wonder if bo sad a ohange Shou>d otll tie Taipo up — the weird oanoe With ghostly wan iors ? Ay, the story's strange, Bur Htrangor stories siill are sometimes true. When ruin hangs above his native earth. The patriots spirit 'scapes to see once more The hallo w'd Fcem q around his place of birth— The hills and, vales and lakes he loved of yore. When Tarawera trembled to her base. And shook the bones of heroes in her womb, The chiefs took mortal shape to warn their race Of comiriH danger and impending doom. Oh. fairy wor derland of love and light, Where long ago wild cascaded fell asleep In Parian bade of sculptured stalactite, And dreamed themselves away In curve and sweep ! Oh, fresco- d fountains ! Oh, prismatic sheen ! Oh, iridescent showers of diamond spray ! Oh. lake cerulean set in richest green! Oh, Riones traced in pink, and white, and grey! Oh, hallowed spot, whose grandeur filled the FOUI With houghts sublime— with reverence and awe ; Whose altars grand were carved with many a Bcioll, Quaint hieroglyphics of some mystic law ! "Vanish, d ! W e cannot realise the thought. Has wilful Nature, in a frenzied flight, Heap'd ruin on the lor'liness f-he wrought— Destroyed her work of ages in a night. Weird transformation ! terrible recast ! Where order reigned is heard confusion's roar, Fierce devastation buries all the pastAll is chaotic riot- not* ing more. Thomas Bracken. Dunedin, June 19th, 1886.