SELECTED VERSE.

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14669, 4 June 1921, Page 9 (Supplement)

SELECTED VERSE.

- 4>. THE PRESENT. Do not crouch to-day, and worship The old Past whose life is fled: Hush your voice with tender reverence; Crowned he lies, but cold and dead: For the Present reigns our monarch, With an added weight of hours; 'Honour her, for she is mighty 1 Honour her, for she is oursl See the shadows of his heroes Girt around her cloudy throne; Every day the ranks are strengthened By great hearts to him unknown; Noble things the great Past promised; Holy dreams both strange and new; But tlie Present shall fulfil them. What he promised, she shall do. She inherits all his treasures, She is heir to all his fame; And the light that lightens round her Is the lustre of his name. She is wise with all his wisdom, Living on his grave she stands; On her brow she bear s his laurels, And his harvest in her hands. Coward, can she reign and conquer If w'e thus her glory dim? Let us fight for her as nobly As our fathers, fought for him. God, who crowns the dying ages, Bids her rule and us obey: Bids us cast our lives before her, Bids us serve the great To-day. —Adelaide A. Procter. TIS A LITTLE THING To give a cup of water; yet its draught Of cool refreshment, drain by fevered lip. May give a shock of pleasure to the frame More exquisite than when nectarian juice Renews the life of joy in happiest hours. It is a little thing to speak a phrase Of common comfort, which by daily use Has almost lost its sense; yet on the ear Of him who thought to die unrenowned, ’t will fall Like choicest music; fill the glazing eye With gentle tears; relax the knotted hand \ To know the bonds of fellowship again; \ And shed on the departing soul a sense (More precious than the benison of friends About the honoured death-bed of the rich), To him who else were lonely, that N another Of the great family Is near and feels =—Talfourd. 1 c. BE STRONG. Whatever may happen, whatever may come, i ' Whether things go right, whether things go wrong There is just one duty; abroad, at home. It is told in the order: Be brave, ne strong. The fellow who falters and loses heart. The fellow who fears in the thick of the flsht. And he who behaves with the coward’s part. Has never heard this order aright. 'J Be strong to suffer, be strong to dare, Be strong to speak, let your words rinp true; Be strong the burdens of life to bear, Be strong to wait, and be strong to do. And whether around you be silence spread. Or whether anear you be shout and song. In the core of your soul let these - \ words be said; In the combat of living be brave, be strong. —Margaret E. Sangster. * BE BRAVE—-AND LIVE, Bo brave, my soul, for cowardice is weakness; Be strong, for weakness is disgrace; Care not for clouds, for sunlight is eternal; The one who falters never wins a race. If there ai;e sorrows, live not In their shadows But seek the sunshine of new joys; Grieve not o’er wrongs, for grieving cannot right them. And mourning only cheerfulness alloys. For many tons of rock pass through the crusher Ere they produce an ounce of gold; A thousand shells are broken to discover One hidden pearl of perfect mould. Faint not nor fall aweary by the wayside, Press on,,the mighty current stem; For Life’s rewards, however you may doubt them, Surpass in worth or gold or gem. Talk not of death, .there is no death but failure, (Who dares lo fail, deserves to die), But till your life up-to the fullest measure: “LET L|VE” he your eternal battle-cry. —Stamats. fl SONG OF COURAGE (By Alfred .T. Waterhouse). If the world !"•« gone wrong, and life is a song Where Hie minor chord's i?ivcn to wailing; If the skies have wept tears, and at trouble and fears The souls in our bosoms are quailing; If we look through a maze into desolate days When our hearts shall be weary, so weary; If.wc’vc thrown and have missed and are dropped from the list Of the ones who are happy and cheery; Why, still, do you know, we may fight as we go, A battle that’s stalwart and onward; We may raise, though we fall, unto error no thrall. Cleaving upward and starward and sunward: And the light of our p\cs, though it flickers and dies, We may see reappear in amd-hcr's. For the God-given light that shall scatter the night Is the smile, on the face of our brothers. —The Business Philosopher.