PATER PATRIÆ.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 249, 24 March 1888, Page 5

PATER PATRIÆ.

Thero 13 a time in life when smiling clouds Aro bright abovo us Sailing o'er life's sea We little heed the sailor in the shrouds, Or who tho captain be. We gaze with loving eyes upon the blue, Its silvery fringe of amber-tinted laco, And think but little that the sun so true Erabrights, though hid, his faeo. Green shaded groves, and garlands ever fair, Embower'd Edens, gay festoons of flowers ; What summer heart, then, woaries with dull care When Paradise is ours 1 ? But listing to the angry, crashing gale, When night enshrouds and blackness hides the blue, We pray with beating heart and lips so palf,. " God sparo our captain true !" When wild the storm, and frosted rains beat down, And clouds obscure the smiling king of day ; We look beyond the momentary frown, For Sol "a bright summer ray. With ruined bow'rs and leafless trees around. And dying flow'rs. by rudest tompests tost. We mourn our idols beaten to the ground, When Paradise is lost ! So thou, Zealandia, bendest 'neath tho frown That hides awile thy gorgeous summer blue : Now comes tho dawn of day. Bring forth thy crown And coronate the true. Ay, crown again thy son whoso guiding hand Has led theo safe through tempest, storm and shine— _ , Who plncked thee from tho wilds, O, beauteous land, Moulding his life to thme, And thino to his ! Like wedded pair ye stand Unsevered yet, and who shall sever now? He as a beacon, guides thy ship to land, A truo land yet be thou ! With blossoms strew his way—his tender care Embowered hill and dalo, the fruit is thine; And now thou standest like an «mpress fair, In beauty, half divine! Who should be ruler but tho man who stands 'Mid turmoil, calm; in calmness pure and wise 1 A partisan of right, with stainless hands, A spotless sacrifice. And so wo will it. Let the nation say # With ono uplifted voico. " Behold, wo brmjf Off'ringsto thee, our Lady Queen, and pray This man again be king^^^^ Otahuhu, March 17th, 1888.