PHELIM BRUKE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11482, 2 September 1915, Page 4

PHELIM BRUKE.

" I am thinking of Pat Martin, Said Phelira Burke to me. With Ids droll ways and his laughter, And his manhood young and tree; We were blanket mates together For ai score of years and more— I was Irish to the marrow. He Australian to the cow. '•"When the roads were hard to travel And we perished for a bite He would share his little with me, And I always found him white; He was kind as kind in sickness, And in trouble true and stout — A mate in Full-and-Plc-nty, And a friend in Dowu-aud-Out. << Where the streets of Full-aud-Plenty Through the golden sunshine wind, It's no lack of brother friondslniv—• Milk o' kindness —that you 11 find; And at every turn and corner _ You will meet with greetings then From the sweet eyes of the colleens And the glad hands of the men, " But if Down-and-Out's your township, You will find its people shy, And it's kicks instead o' ha penes That you'll get from passers-by; For it seems their human nature Is a little warped the while, And their smile of glowing welcome Is a very absent smile. '•"Well, we shouldered on together In a friendship frank and fine That stood the stress of hardship And the tost of wet and shine. Shearing here and fencing yonder, Or ringbarking. it might be— Ah. Gcd b» with the old times!" Said Phelim Burke to me. •' Twenty years without a quarrel— Foul or fair, or wot or dry— Isn't that the kind of mateship That can hold its head 011 high t For, where two are long together, ! There the Devil gets to work. And remember T was Irish Through and through," said *"iielim Burke. " Faith, when Want himself the master, And his bitter-hard demands. And the crawling sweat upon us, And the corns upon our hands, And the need that aches within 113 For a nobler, kinder state, 'Tis sc-wit room that we, the toilers, Should allow to thoughts of hate. " Jsfay, 'tis brother-love that s needed (And 'tis th::" :done will live), And tho kindly hand in trouble, And the kind heart to forgive; And t often said to Patrick, As we rested after work: '"Trust the Future '; mid he'd answer: : ' Aye, and help it,' Phelim Burke 1 " And 'twas oft a-night the red logs, ( While the flames leapt high and f higher, i And the big black night about us, j And we looking in tho lire, j That we mused for hours together i On the Forward March of Man. 1 And put forth our thoughts to help it, And to purpose and to plan. "Then," said Burke, "the Big War j started" — _ j And Ins h]u© 6,y6s lighted up I "May the men who set it going j Sup and sup of Sorrow's cup! j May they know the pain of parting j And the bitter salt of tears, i And their lives be bowed and bothered, And their years bo haunted years! " For. 'twas they that did the damage With their murder and their might. And their talk of World Dominion, And their spoiling for 5 fight. And they've got it---got it fairly, And they'll cry enough anon, Though the Devil at their elbow With a grimace .spurs them on'. «T had known him twenty summers— Since our roving life began ; But I little knew my Patrick. Or the makings of a man; For the mood that came upon him Was a rostless. fitful mood ; And thy war went working, working Like red yeast within In* blood. f 'For tho old, old strain was in him, And he could not help but fight. And the army called and got him. And he stole away one night. There were, other roads before him. But he chose ths soldiers way/. He was. brave, a true Australian - - And that's all there is to say/' u All. Phelim?" Aye," he an*were<3. And his t'nee •<■"!< r.re.v to ,>ee-~ " By t.h" love* oi his d<-ad mother. lie was oi'ire than mate to me. He was mate ami more. I tell you , , - And he fell before the Turk . . . ) And at night 1 do be thinking I Of Pmrirk Mart in I lurk" i 1 lUxieric Quiuu, in t-iic " Huik:tm. '