THE OLD MAN ROCK.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVIV, Issue 4412, 16 January 1897, Page 4

THE OLD MAN ROCK.

SThe following verses are dedicated to Mr George Jl, of Dunedin and Lawrence, at whose suggestion they were composed by the author. | Ou top of youder mountain stands A monument not. made by hands In solitude sublirue. Sprung from the depth of rises pa«fc, And on through future ases last — A sentinel of Time. Before the sun had given light, Or Luna pnle had ruled the night ; . And darkness reign'd supreme. Through that deep, dark, eterr.al night. Before ite Builder made the light, There out of chaos it came. Enthroned above its mountains high It rears its summit to tbe sky And shows its frowning form. When lightnings flash from pole to pole Aud the loud peals of thunder roll, It smiles above the storm. The nyaracipus heart of man J ot siuco bis life on earth begnn, Nor Dever, never will, Conceive tbe wealth Mint's hid below This stutely monarch of the snow, * And doth its coffers nil. A wondrous tole 'twill yet- unfold, And wondrous scenes 'twill yet behold : See empires rise and fall, And navies strewed upon the strand Like withered leaves upon the land When winter makes its call. And when the puny work of man And all that art and science plan Shall crumble aud decay, It still shall raise its lofty bead Above tbe dying and tbe dead That round its footstool" lay. And wheujbliis earth grows wan with age, Its bistorr and its written page -And Death itself shall die, This pyramid nnd grand old rock Will weather time and stand the shock, And point towards the sky. Miner. Millers Flat, 12th January, 1897.