Selected Verse.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 18004, 26 April 1930, Page 13 (Supplement)

Selected Verse.

WHO WALKS WITH BEAUTY. Who walks with Beauty has no need to fear; The sun and moon and stars keep pace with him; Invisible hands restore the ruined year, And time, itself, grows beautifully dim. One hill will keep the footprints of the moon, That came and went a hushed and secret hour; One star at dusk will yield the lasting boon; I j Remembered Beauty’s white, immortal flower. Who takes of Beauty wine and daily bread, i Will know no lack when bitter years are lean; The brimming cup is by, the feast is I ' spread— I The sun and moon and stars his eyes have seen, j Are for his hunger and the thirst he stakes: The wine of Beauty and the bread lie i breaks —David Morton. LONELINESS. Round this world of ours I’ve wandered all [j alone, for thirty years, An' I’ve ’ad some ups an’ downs in life, some j joys, an’ hopes, an’ fears. 1 I Now you ask; Did I feel lonesome?—an’ I the answer, kid, I guess, Will come easy if I’m honest, for I 'ave felt j lonesome —yes! An’ it wasn’t in Alaska, where I trapped an’ hunted gold— , Where the blinkin’ weight o’ silence drives j | ye mad before the cold; |i An’ it wasn’t out in India, where I got that I tiger pelt; Or the time the Zulus found me, good as dead, upon the veld. It was that night when I landed from a salted, cranky crock, When the tugs ’ad berthed her safely, in at Glasgow—Princes Dock, An' I strolled up Sauchiehall Street with its glare o’ gaudy light'—■ With its happy, hurrying people; I met i loneliness that night! Thousands passed me, rubbin’ shoulders, in their pleasure-seckin’ race, Yet I found no friend among them; there was no familiar face That could turn in my direction, while its owner could extend. 11 Sturdy hands to shake my shoulders, as he shouted, “Bill, ol’ friend!’ How I envied those young wallahs talkin’ to their sweeties’ eyes, An’ Ibe husbands with their kiddies, an’ their wives, their homes, Ihcir lies; For I felt a lonely iceberg in a blinkin’ human sea— An’ I cursed the day that wanderlust came down an' blinded me. -—lan Wood.

SEEKING GOD. I said, “I will find God,” and forth I went To seek Him in the clearness of the sky, But he over me, stood unendurably Only a pitiless sapphire firmament Ringing the world—blank splendor; yet intent Still to find God, ‘‘l will go seek,” said I, “His way upon the waters,” and drew nigh An ocean marge weed-strewn and foam besprent ; And the waves dashed on idle sand and stone, And very vacant was the long blue sea; But in the evening as I sat alone, My window open to the vanishing day, Dear God I could not choose but kneel and pray, And it sufficed that I was found of Thee. Edward Dowden (1813-1913). REST. Some times we feel so spent for want of rest, We have no thought beyond. I know today, When tired of bitter lips and dull delay With faithless words, I cast mine eyes upon The shadows of a distant mountain-crest, And said “That hill must hide within its breast Borne secret glen secluded from the sun. Oh, mother Nature! would that I could run Outside to Iheo; and, like a wearied guest, Half blind with lamps, and sick of feasting, lay An aching head on thee. Then down the streams The moon might swim, and I should feel her grace, While soft winds blew.the sorrows from my face, So quiet iii the fellowship of dreams.” —Henry Kendall. FRATERNITY, For eighty years their paths ran side by side—■ Through joyous village youth they strove and played. Who angered one, two equal foemen made. Each shared the other's sorrow, joy and pride; Together, too, they worked their hillside farm, Wringing a living from the grudging soil, Grew closer still in spirit, through their toil Learning forbearance, philosophic calm. And neither wed—for womenfolk don’t hold With eager days spent whipping brook and stream In April; through October’s golden dream Ranging the woods for grouse, pipes frag rant-bowled. Two worn old armchairs, rocking in the wind Upon their porch, show Fate to friends was kind . . . —Harold Willard Gleason.