SELECTED VERSE

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21098, 27 April 1940, Page 11 (Supplement)

SELECTED VERSE

THE AIRMAN

Akin to clouds and stars, a part of Night, He scours the cold, grey desert of the air In eager vigilance for those who dare To challenge Britain’s skyways, Britain’s might.

Grim guardian! Yet he finds the same delight Remembering simple things—a childish prayer, A firelit room, a girl with sun-touched hair And steady eyes that blessed him, strangely bright.

Who kno-ws? For him, the night may have no ending; Yet here his thoughts, like Hermes scandalshod, Storm at the gates of Heaven. Past pretending He treads anew the w r ay the heroes trod-Re-dedicates himself, with will unbending, To live, to serve, and leave the rest to God. —Josepha Grace, in the Empire Review

STAR-HUNGER

A valley is a friendly place, Snug and close and still, But some who build their houses there Get homesick for a hill.

Their thoughts grow tall from looking up Their eager eyes ’are bright, For morn or eve, or eve or morn, Their faces seek the light.

They dream of high, wind-troubled peak Unfettered white cloud-foam, And talk of Mars and Capricorn, Who call the valley home.

Oh, those who till the fields and farms Sometimes think it queer That men whose feet are valley-bound Should find the stars so dear. —Dorothy Hope McCroden

THE REVEILLE

Men of England! who inherit Rights that cost your sires their blood! Men whose undegenerate spirit Has been proved on field and flood— What are monuments of bravery, Where no public virtues bloom? What avails in lands of slavery Trophied temples, arch, and tomb? Pageants! Let the world revere us For our peoples rights and laws, And the breasts of civic heroes Bared in Freedom’s holy cause. We’re the sons of sires that baffled Crown’d and mitred tyranny:— They defied the field and scaffold For their birthrights—so will we! •—Thomas Campbell

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?

It matters not if you lost the fight and were badly beaten, too; It matters not if you failed outright in the things you tried to do; It matters not if you toppled down from the azure heights of blue— But what are you doing now?

It matters not if your plans were foiled and your hopes have fallen through; It matters not if your chance was spoiled for the gain almost in view; It matters not if you missed the goal, though you struggled brave and true— But what are you doing now?

It matters not if your fortune’s gone and your fame has withered, too; It matters not if a cruel world’s scorn be directed straight at you; It matters not if the worst has come and your dreams have not come true— But what are you doing now? —R. Rhodes Stabley, in Golden Glow Dairy Messenger.