VARIOUS VERSES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8144, 19 May 1906, Page 7

VARIOUS VERSES.

LOVE IN TEARS. If fate Love's dear ambition mar, And load his breast, with hopeless pain, And seem to blot out sun and star, Love, won or lost, is countless gain; His sorrow boasts a secret bliss Which sorrow of itself beguiles, And love in tears too noble is For pity, save of Love in smiles. But looking backward through bis tears With visiou of maturer soope, How often oue dead joy appears The platform of some better hope! And, let us own, the sharpest smart Whiob human patience may endure > Pays light for that which leaves the heart More generous, dignified and pure. —Coventry Patmore. THE MEN UPON THE LAND. The city folk, they whirl about In cab and tram and train, They gramble at the days of drought, They grumble at the rain. To comfort wed and easy ways, The 7 fear to soil a hand; But the men who build a nation are the men upon the land. , The oity calls, its street are gay, Its pleasures wb<l supplied, So of its life-blood every day Its robs the countryside. To banks and shops and offloes Men throng, an eager bandBut the hearts that build the nation are the men upon the land. Break off! Strike out! 0 come away 1 Be master of your life; A home for every heart to-day That fear 9 not toil or strife! There's musio in the axe's ring, Swung by a strong man's baud. And the men that make the nation • are the men upon the land. A WOMAN'S SIGHS. A woman's sighs call up for hei the ■ years Of maidenhood, the times of joys and fears, When thoughts, half-formed, were stirring in her breast; Those golden days with youth and beauty blest, Ere trials oonie, a nd blighting sorrow sears. The prattle of sweet JittleTlips she h ft JITS Once more; and, thinking, while the tender tears Fall fast, of 'baby hands she once caressed, A woman sighs. And so, 'mid all her thoughts 'tis love endears Each memory, be it sad or sweet, and clears ' The cloudiof doubt and pain which once oppressed. Ah, Faith and Hope axe good, but Love is best. The Love triumphant that to Heaven uprears A woman's eyes. —Francis H. Lee. — / NOW. If you have hard work to do, . Do it now. To-day the skieß are clear and blue, TO-morrow clouds may come in view, Yesterday is not for you; Do it now. If you have a song to eing, Sing it now. Let the notes of gladness ring Clear as song of bird in spring, Let every day some musio bring; Sing it njw. If you have kind words to say, Say them now. To-morrow may not come your way Do* a kindness while you may, Loved ones will not always stay; Say them now. if you have a smile to show, Show it now. Make hearts happy, roses grow. Let the friends around you know The love you have before they go; Show ift now. —■Charles R. Skinner. A GENTLEMAN. A soul, incapable of fear, Unselfish, modest and sincere, Of stainless honour; undeflled In' speech and action as a child; Observe these precepts if you can , Abd you shall be a gentleman. Reginald Lucas in the Westminster Gazette. THE VANITY OF GREAT SHIPS. In their might and pride they sailed Sun-emblßzoned and fog-veiled, Cheered on by the winds of heaven: Now they lie fceslimed and riven— Tbey that won and they that failed! In their might and pride they steamed Where the long lights washed and gleamed, Cruising for their country's glory: Now the world forgets their story As a vision it had dreamed! Crimson shone their eager star! . . Now torn plate and shattered spar Crumble in the long releaseNow the blind tides bring them peace That were fashioned so for war! Theodore Roberts, in "Everybody's Magazine."