A CANADIAN POETESS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5115, 24 November 1894, Page 2

A CANADIAN POETESS.

1 The following are selected trom. the | verses recently issued by Mian E. Pauline Johnson* the Canadian poetess. " Thintle'doflrn," is a skilful example of gentle itnpreasion touohiogly recorded : — " ' j ■ ■ '• ' i Beyond a ridge of pines with spiky tips, | The !W"est lifts to the sunliqr longing lipg. I Her.hlushes st&in with gold and garnet dye The shore, the river, and the wide, far sky. j lake floods of wine the waterß filter thro' j The xeeds that brush our indolent canoe. ' -. 11. Lbeach the how, where sands in shadows lie ( Toiahold-my hand a apace— then say good-bye. Up jWrnds your pathway through the yellow plumes j Of golden-rod, profuse in Aiigust blooms, ' And o'er its tossing sprays you toss a kiss, ▲ moment more— and I see only this— in. The idle paddle you so lately held, The empty bow your pliant wrist propelled. Some'thistles purpling to violet, Their blossoms with a thousand thorns a-fret, And'' like a cdoweb, shadowy and gray, • Far floats their down, far drifts my dream away. j Misa Johnson lias great oower of reprs- ! lentibfrAther scenoß than thoae of nature. i "Tha Beath-ory" is full of intensity, and j is. altuoat weirdly imaginative : — Moonless the skies, unlit the forest, way, Black hangs the night o'er Northern Canada. Parting.tlie silence comes the hoot of owls, A stray fox barks— afav some strange dog howls : In such forebodings crouches death— '.'-■ A knife Uplifted in the crisis of hot strife Has drunk vermilion draughts, itahostile blow Has stilled the hostile Wood of some dark foe. Noiseless the victor through the midnight, creeps Tomirds the forest stream, which silent sleepsLeans lie low down above the snake-like flood To tell his world that law is blood for blood, Bold from his parted lips the death-cry leaps Aderwn the waters, icily if; sweeps. Weird, strange, and chilling, awfullest of crie3 That on,tho distant darknesw floats— then dies. The Mohawk listens ! All is still as death, Aye, .death itself seems dead— once more that breath . , Curdles the air with savage eloquence. Vibrating thro' the forest black and dense, One moment.more of gloom, gho3t-like and drear, Then jthe red warrior's cat-like, listening ear Catches a seeming eoh'o'—a reply Prom Tniles adowh the stream— his wild death-cry Has floated with the waters, and 'tis passed Ihrota mouth to mouth, the deed is known at last. Unmoved he hears the far-off, eerie wail, Then' turns to take again the midnight trail, He parts the boughs— benda low his eagle plume And merges in tbe depths of forest gloom. In " !Depthß" we find Misa Johnson onoa more in a tenderer vein : — Serene dark pool with all your colours dulled, Yonr dreamless waves by twilight, slumber lulled ; Tour wnrmth that llauied because tha hot sun hushed Your lip vermilion that his liisses crushed ; Wan. are the tints he left of gold and gem, For. dusk's soft, cloudy grays have smothered ' them. Wnere ionder shore's tree-terraced outlines melt, The shadow's circle like a velvet belt ; And'dovfn', far down within the sable deep A whit! e.star-sonl awakens from its sleep. Or,little!lnke,?rith twilight interlink'd Ybijr darkling shores, your margin indistinctMore in your depth's uncertainty there lies Than' when yon imuge all the sunset dyes. Like to the poet's soul you seem to be A depth no hand can touch, no eye can see. And melancholy's dusky clouds drift thro' The singer's songs, as twilight drifts o'er you. Ol Ufe that saddens for tbe colours fled, Within your depths a' diamond 'wake 3 instead. Perchance in spheres remote, and fair and far, There breathes a twin soul to my soul's white star, Or have we tonched already, and passed by Unconscious that affinity was nigh ? 0 ! soul/perchance so near me, yet unknown, ■ Some day ■we'll 'wake within fate's velvet zone.