SELECTED VERSE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21242, 12 October 1940, Page 11 (Supplement)

SELECTED VERSE

OF WHAT METAL IS THE ROSE ?

Of what metal is the wild rose made That uncalled and unguarded in the lane

by the river Blooms in the dust in the shade In the sultry June where the elms arch over? As certain as the day comes the flower, As certain as the strength of the awkward son Who shall come down the valley at the stated hour When the world has need of such a one. —Charles Malam. LET ME REMEMBER Let me remember a garden in England, Green sloping lawns softly shadowed by trees, Prim bordered pathways, the perfume of roses, Laughter of children and murmur of bees. Let me remember a meadow in England, Tranquil and quiet in the afternoon haze, Song of the river that creeps through the rushes, Let me remember the peace of those days. —Gwen Castle. A NATION’S HOME So long as there are homes to which men turn At the close of day, So long as there are homes where children are— Where women stay, If love and loyalty and faith be found Across these sills, A stricken nation can recover frcm Its gravest ills, So long as there are homes where fires burn And there is bread, So long as there are homes where lamps are lit And prayers are said; Although a people falters through the dark And nations grope, With God Himself back of these little homes, We still have hope. —Grace Noll Crowell.

EARLY

“ Early ” is that bargain time For beauty when the wet trees bracket A silver world. It is the great Pearl fair and diamond market.

A span, an extra-secret hour Devised for oriole and linnet Whose office work is best begun Whilst there is dew upon the minute!

“ Early ” calls us ’ere we need Report to care or tasks diurnal. Then earth is breakfast for the heart, And summer an illumined journal. Amanda Benjamin Hall. ULYSSES There was a high ship sailed the main, Masts to the stars sailed she: Not a wraith of foam ’neath her figurehead shone So still was the sea. Happier the landsman with care distraught Than mariners winds may cheat, While the mouths of the guileful sea-maids chaunt Lament, and the sea-bells beat A solemn resounding knell, and call Their souls from their bodies, and wake A thirst in the eyes no beauty on earth Hath power to slake. —Walter de la Mare. THE HEIRLOOM These are the days that, to their utmost hour, The upper and the nether millstones grind. And ground with them are beast and humankind And wood and hill and farm and field and flower. And what is ground today shall be the dower Of future generations, which shall find The worth of something sifted and refined From this our riot of material power. It may be something very plain, and old, A simple thing we have forgotten long, Something that might be told of in a song, But which for a long while has not been told. But be it what it may, it will tell plain, Long after us, that Hitler lived in vain. —Lord Dunsany.