LYRIC-

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 28, 12 July 1890, Page 7

LYRIC-

I. Hark ! the'boom from far Waikato ! Hark ! the cramp of marching men ! Louder even now we hear them, Than our child-ears heard them then ! Thus the years, and lengthening memory, Oft repeople former days ; Oft rekindle boyish embers, Fan them to maturer blaze. Vivid play the lights with shadows : Most is pleasure, part regret; Gladly some things we remember ; Some we’d fain, but can’t forget. Sound again those northern thunders ! And, in fancy, yet again Roar those rugged mountain gorges. Shakes that far wide-spreading plain ! Gne brief moment spans Time’s rapids, Back to eighteen sixty-four, And our spirits, bounding over, View the field of stubborn war ! n. Austral Autumn’s ripened yield Had been gathered from the field, And the narrowing days had run Shorter with each setting sun. •Crisper breathed came ev’ry morn— Sturdy dawnings, daily born— Dutiful to Nature’s call, Forest robes began to fall; Later March’s leafy dross, Browned upon the with’ring moss. Emblems fit were these in sooth, Silent prophets, winged with truth ; Fatal their descending spell, For with them the Maoris fell. Surely like the sombre pall, Winter hangs on Autumn’s wall, Seemed the dark’ning folds to fall Over Maori chivalry ! Overwhelmed on ev’ry hand, Vain their long heroic stand, ’’Gainst such odds of rivalry !

111. Clan on clan of tawny men — Chieftains of the plain and glen— Eager burned for savage fray, Fierce Revenge’s vow to pay. Ev’ry form of human debt Sinning mortals may forget, Yet doth Vengeance torture pride, Till its wrath be satisfied. Dear devotion to their race, To their island’s smiling face— Beauty’s fairy dwelling-place— Brimmed each savage breast with tire, Stalwart son, and wrinkled sire. Wild, untutored, burning thus, Ign’rance but lent impetus To their long, intrepid fi’dit, ’Gainst the armied British might ! IV. Stormed and slaughtered, shotted, shelled, Inch from inch they vainly held ; One by one the rebel pas Fell, amid the proud hurrahs Of the conquering pakehas ; And the heel of British boot Trod where Maori’s naked foot But an instant had before Stamped its signature in gore. Graven thus upon the ground, Were a thousand like around— Names unknown to all mankind, Sounded, only by the wind ; Yet to one Omniscient eye, Clear as sunbeam in the sky— Heav’n's unseen recording staff Traced each strange red autograph !

V. Idle spear and gory axe, Strewn amid the fern and flax, — Ruined whares, —heaps of slain— Smoking vale, and bloody plain— Dying moan, and living wail. Told their piteous, dismal tale. Vain those incantations wild ; Vain those tow’ring bulwarks piled : Vain the valour naught could quench, On the height, or in the trench ! For those patriotic braves, Trenches were but yawning graves ; < >ft a hundred in a line, Fell within the ample mine ; Noble souls, with latest breath Fighting hardest—true till death I VI. Thus can glowin" hist’ry tell. How those wild Waikatos fell, 'Mid the storms of shot and shell : How, while cannons boomed their knell, Dusky sextons, sapping well, Dug their own deep sepulchres ! VII. Vet still there roamed, on his native slope, One son of the Southern clime ; Prepollent chief, with whom none could cope, In his tameless Maori prime. And at his beck were three hundred more, AVho’d follow the reliefs lead ; Whose hearts were leal to their inmost core, Though their last life-drop should bleed. Yea, Rewi’s spirit waxed wild and fierce. And dread was his fuming ire : His black eye keen as a gleam could pierce And could flash as the lightning tire.

His skin was his only coat of mail, His country’s love was his wrath : Nor was there a man would dare to quail. When he trod such a chieftain’s path. His fiery soul had declared that he Would ne’er to the pale face fall ; That he would hold, with his hundreds three. Old < frakau s fortress wall. Three hundred '. ah '. preominate three ! For a triplet of days made pace, Whose fatal, yet famous endeavour would be The doom of a valorous race ! VIII. Soon those tameless warriors honoured Their irrevocable vow : Soon met foemen worthy foemen, — Courage mantling ev’ry brow. Forth as leaders came Yon Tempsky, Leslie, Carey, Herford, Ring ; And the rifles’ pregnant barrels Gave their deadly missiles wing. Flashed and Hamed the bellowing cannon; Closer, fiercer grew the fight ; Gleamed the steel of fifteen hundred Marshalled men of British might ! Nearer, nearer to the ramparts • >f the famished, doomed redoubt. Pressed they forward ’mid the conflict, With a loud triumphant shout ! O ! the soul-inspiring glitter, As they Hashed those speckless blades ! < > ! the sudden, dreadful havoc, Of the bursting hand-grenades ! Holding the lieleaguered fortress. Were but those three hundred men. Parched and hungered, spent with lighting. Through Waikato’s bush and fen ! Yet, with savage souls unconquered, Still they forced the deadly strife ; Spurned the circling red battalion, Caring nought for death or life !

Theirs to fight for Maori freedom, In a land they deemed their own ; Theirs to hold, and ne'er surrender Aotearoa’s throne ! Flared again the burning muzzles ! Belched the fiery bowels forth I And the battle's doubling thunders. Shook the mountains of the North ! Rewi, rebel chieftain, famous, Idol of his dusky elan, Still cheered on the L'riweras, Daring, dauntless, to a man I To a man I yea, to a woman ! Laud Orakau’s heroines ! Brave wahines ! need we marvel At the fame such valour wins ? IX. Suddenly the guns were silent, And tlie frighted hills were still. Had the rebel chief surrendered t Had the Briton lost his skill l Neath the fumes of halted battle, Rising high, a cloudy stair, < jniekly sped a mercy message. Borne across the trembling air. And a flag of truce was carried I’p before the Maori fort : But with scorn and wild derision. Came there back the proud retort. Keen with maddened, hellish sport, ‘ Ka whawhai tonu ! ake ! ake ! ake !’ We ll fight for ever '. for ever ! for ever

X. • For ever and for ever !' < • the tierce detiant cry ! And ‘ ake ! ake : ake !' Wa- the echo s wild reply ! Thus did Waikato's hero chief Bold Cameron defy ; And rebel braves lavished their blood like a river. For a thousand printed ride' then Their leaden secrets sped ; And fiery lipped artillery Roared o'er the dusky dead : Yet stubbornly the Maoris fought, And yelled a.- thus they bled, * We'll tight on for ever, and ever, and ever !' Once more would Mercy spare them From the ruin of the slain, Yet the tender goddess pleaded With the savages in vain ; For still with quenchless vehemence, And conquerless disdain. The gory tiends scorned wife or child to deliver. But’Britons though in action stem, Yet merciful can be, Can in mightiness be gentle, Can make pow'r and peace agree. ‘ Send forth your wives,’ quoth Cameron, • Set ye the weak ones tree !’ ‘ Our women brave,' came back the cry, • Will fight as well as we ! ‘ We'll tight on for ever, and ever, and ever !' XII. Then cannon's mouth again proclaimed The penalty of Sin ; And volley after volley poured With fatal fury in. Down swept by that devouring swath, The shattered victims fell; And high to Heaven rose the smoke, Of sacrifice to tell. Yet was folly expiated In that Maori hecatomb, For greater valour never faced The British cannon boom ! XIII. For those who'd fought in such a fight To yield was endless shame : And on to final conflict, Soon the desp'rate remnant came - Still unsubdued, they rallied, And, with answer yet the same, They sealed the tott'ring ramparts And then leaped to death and fame ! And loud was heard above the roar Of battle's raging din, The rending shout of those who'd die, Though they could never win : * We ll fight on for ever, and ever, and ever :' XIV. Yet did the rangatira— Soul and body sorely tom — Escape pursuing Britons, With his mana still unshorn, And bare away upon his brow The chieftain's crown he’d worn : With the glories of the sunset, On that fatal April eve, Sped he swiftly to the forest. Wherein nature's garlands weave ; There amid the sacred fastness Rewi held his high reprieve XV. Wrecked was that idol citadel, And corses, score on score, Of Kewi's valiant swarthies. Flushad it with st reaming go: e ; Their stronghold, not of life, but death, 1 hey famed for evermore Their glorious fate, mid heroic endeavour, Shall blaze through unrun centuries, Like Balaclavan flame. While braverv is honoured, And while valour bears a name ; For the spirits of an age shall chant Strange words of Maori fame, Whose luminous glory shall dissipate never ; And whose tire of martial theme Shall rise, peerless and supreme. When lights of lesser deeds are quenched by Time's remorseless river— Shall live, though nations die, and though the world with age may shiver ; And boundless. sounding atmosphere with fervency shall quiver. As that deathless battle-cry Echoes onward, far and high—- * We ll tight on for ever, and ever, and ever 1’