Selected Verse

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 9817, 22 February 1936, Page 17 (Supplement)

Selected Verse

NOW AUTUMN IS HERE. Now Autumn Is here I yearn for a Roman villa (A villa and peace 1) With mosaics of grapevines, twined with the leopards of Bacchus, And a bronze faun from Greece Standing Jocund and drunk in the midst of a modest fountain Where the slow-moving carp Nose the water to circles of ripples as thin and as silver As the strings of a harp. How pleasant to sit in a peristyle wide to the 6un But walled from the breeze, And lo smell the fragrance of grape swelling sweet from the press, And see over the trees An arrow of wild geese flying—how pleasant to smile And. sighing, write down A word of regret and content, engraved on wax tablets, To some friend in the town. —Elizabeth Coatsworlh.

“LORD OF MY HEART’S ELATION.” Lord of my heart’s elation, Spirit of things unseen, Be thou my aspiration Consuming and serene! Bear up, bear out, bear onward, This mortal soul alone, To selfhood or oblivion. Incredibly thine own, — As the foamheads are loosened And blown along the sea, Or sink and merge forever In that which bids them be. I, too, must climb in wonder, Uplift at thy command, — Be one with my frail fellows Beneath the wind’s strong hand, A fleet and shadowy column Of dust or mountain rain. To walk the earth a moment And be dissolved again. Be thou my exaltation Or forlilude of mien, Lord of the world’s elalion, Thou brealh of things unseen!