FESTIVAL OF MUSIC

Te Aroha News, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5500, 15 June 1917, Page 3

FESTIVAL OF MUSIC

SONGS OF NEW ZEALAND WRITERS

Ou the suggestion of the Committee of the Festival of New Zealand Music, who desire to include in their next programme some songs of New Zealand writers and composers, the Christchurch News invited the poets of New Zealand to send in short, original poems of about four verses each, preferably having for their subjeet present day events in 'our national life. Out of the poems sent in Bix of the best were to be rejected and published. The Festival Committee, it is understood, will invite composers to set the woids to music for performance at this year s Festival. Twenty-nine soDgs were received. They, were, naturally, of varying degrees of literary excellence, and the task of judging has been rendered more difficult by the fact that one or two of the best sets of •verses had no special reference to present day events, whereas several •of those which were rejected after ithe first reading were full of allusions to the war. Of the six chosen, one was from the pen of Mr Harold T. Willis, of Te Aroha, entitled “ For Those We Leave Behind.” We publish the words as under ; .

FOR THOSE WE LEAVE BEHIND We are leaving you, New Zealand, /For a land across the sea, Tfeere to fight, perhaps to die, That New Zealand may be free. (Chorus) : De good to those we leave behind, We put our trust in you To keep and guard those doar to us While we help to see it through. We’ll fight for you, New Zealand, And bleed and die for you, But do not forget New Zealand, You’ve got your bit to do. (Chorus) : (Be good to those we leave behind, Who gave their boys for you, ..And help and guard those dear, to u s While we help to see it through