REMARKABLE POEM.

Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 15042, 9 April 1919, Page 7

REMARKABLE POEM.

GRJDAT INTEREST IN WELLINGTON.

(Special-to "The Colonist., 3')

W.ellington, April Bth, 1919 ' Interest in to-morrow's licensino- poli'i ;iias.almost'reached- ifev^^ and thevvictory übr'Vdefeat; of "prohibi-:' tiqfh/ is the'-main topic of conversatibn'" m Wie'city. -. ■: v ■■*••-: •;'';■■■'■-;;■■- ■•■ .:■■:■'■ ■'■'? Out -:pf the conflict of parties and per- ' tome a really fine i l literary production . which has received 1 the highest commendation from- all < who have seen it; The poem is said to? iiaye been written by a well-known Wei-' lingtoii; resident, and in dignity arid torce reaches an exceedingly high4 plane. The poem .is entitled ''The Vote," and reads as follows:—'

Vote out the Drink—Vote out the \ power that steals The life of men—that dulls the 'iovbus brain; ~ • ■ . That smites the heart, so that it never • reels :■ : .-."" -.■-'■ The first fine love or ecstacy again.

Vote out the Thing that dowers with disease,1 Within the womb, the little life asleep; ' That, wakening, shall find not any ease But, limping into life, lives but to weep.

Vote out the fear, of children who must run

From the dull fury, or the worse em-' brace; ', : Who wonder why the happy days are done When they could smile into a father's face. ...■.■'..

Vote out the dread of wives who wait alone For the wild step, the maudlin kiss, the blow; ' : Or shrink beside the monster wildly thrown On marriage-bed whence love went long ago. / ' . . Vote out the Snake coiled in the eity^s heart. That glides upon the simple, laughing boy . With, the first fatal cup, and with tireless art, . . Pursues him to the ending of his joy.

Vote out the tears of mothers who wait j A son's bright step, ancl eager eyes agleam; ™ Who find a. bully blundering at the .gate, And know their hope is but a dying dream. Vote out the crimes that crimson from the cup, Vote out the madness and the slow despair: '. • ' _ The suicide's dark anguish—giving up; Because the vane has made the world all bare. Vote for the coming in of better things, Vote for the fuller life and love and home, Vote for the nation—vote for a land that sings; Vote for the health and happiness to come.* .