Verse Old and New.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 10, 8 March 1911, Page 71

Verse Old and New.

The Scythe-bearer. ©UT of the East there came a friendless Wind, And all the sullen day was frozen up; Blinking through tears congealed. Along the sky 1 Fled to the West a sulky herd of clouds, And through the ashen light fell fitfully Morsels of scattered ice. Nor land nor wave - ’ r But loathed this wind, austere and resolute. Beneath his touch the heath-clad mountains shrank; The forest raved; the grey sea showed her teeth And hissed cold curses out on lonely shores; The smarting face of every natural thing Scowled at the Scythe-bearer. Yet, all unmoved; And earelesSjof the 'curdled agony Flashed from his wings, did Eurus smite r thc l.earthi . " , With iron hand, and in the upper air Invisible and ambient death he slew That life might better live. The pestilence Tie met and strangled; and such hooded plagues As haunt our habitations felt his knife And perished. Huddled corpses of" old leaves He found and brought to the rain; he swept and scoured Each secret, stagnant eranny, each dark place.’ /'• . : . He brought down death on many a sleeping life And froze the eggs of bygone butterflies For care of green young buds that waited Spring With daggers of pure ice the clod he rent ' - ■

And slew " the slayer that was slumbering there, ' ' • So other slumberers a fairer fade' Should find on wakening. His priestly steel < Made "sacrifice, and offered up the less In glory of the greater. Wherefore Earth Shall smile again, and welcome blueeyed June, - ’ And bless that wooer from the Eastern hills Whose fierce endearment made her bosom ache. Welcome, thou Wind invincible! I’ll cry Thy wise oblations to the slighting world And tell the flowers how thy eager breath Foreran their beauty; how the west wind’s self, That rocked their moonlit petals tenderly, And drank the dew from each dawnopen’d bud, Showed not a truer, livelier love than thou Who mad’st the naked forest shriek and bend And at thine onset throb. The southern wind, Moist with long kissing of his sweetheart sea, Wins many a scented blessing for the rain; Zephyr doth sigh and languish all day long Upon their loveliness, and bears away The honeyed whisperings of summer noons; But thou —thou scourge of softness — thou who com’st Harsh as the call of duty in the dawn To sufferers—oh, what reward hast thou ? No cup of ivory or tigred gold Opens for thy parched lips; no pearly rose Uplifts her mouth to give a kiss to thee;

Each infant leaf doth fearful hug his twin upon thy advent; not one little bud i But prays for thy departure ere it opes '*• Bright innocent eyes upon the breast of Spring. • r For thou'art but a type and form of truth; ' x And Truth shall commonly discover here The selfsame frosty welcome kept for thee. Sweep on, great Orient messenger, sweep on, Robed in the liquid amber of the dawn; Reign over us, thou swift and stern-eyed king, With salutary justice; so shall we Remain the wiser when thou dost depart, Sceptred with discipline and crowned with truth. To chasten ail the utmost bounds of Earth. —By Eden Philpotts. © © © Apple Blossoms and the Child. Beneath each rosy-white Ethereal bloom, lovely as pearl and seemingly As useless save to charm the sight. There lieth. not mere prophecy Of fruit to come, but the round fruit In miniature complete—a globe minute. With envelope and flesh and seed So planned that it shall need. To make fair food for longing lips, Only the balmy wind, the freshening rain, and the sunshine that slips Its warming touch the sheltering leaves between. —And, baby, in thy soul again Whoso hath looked the miracle hath seen. Here is not promise that a man shall grow; Here is the man as he may be, Full-formed within The fragrant petal-cup of infancy. Watcli the bright eye Seeking, insatiable, to learn, to know; Watcli the unresting steps begin Their voyages of far discovery. See how to hands outstretched the soft hands cling, And how the soft glance tells Responsive love to love that dwells In other eyes.

See how the tender wounded heart cai bring Swift dignity to heal its grieved surprise, And courage cqmes at call. ' Teh brave" mouth quivers, but the foot stands fast When" perilous risks befall— When ths' great hound, first seen, affrights, ’ • Or in the dusk of garden nights The moth, the beetle, whirr too closely past! •- How valiant the desire to aid In ta^ks-enormous for so slender powers; How keen the sense in the beloved to si's The changes made By the uncomprehended flight of changeful hours— To give the kiss betokening sympathy, Or trustfulness, or merriment. How quick the lamentations and the crystal tears For the young robin slain. The lily that the storm has rent; Yet with what gentle fortitude the small soul bears Its own long fevered test of unaccustomed pain, Stoic yet sweet the while. Weakened of all except the will to smile. So unto us the babe is born; So in the blossom of his happy morn Lie wrapped the pattern and the plan Of grace and virtue in the man. Oh. sheltering leaves, oh, warming sun, Guard, foster, fashion, that there shall in one Be fully ripened, undistorted, undefiled, The springtime excellences of the child. Blow, bracing wind! Fall, fructifying ra i n! Round out the promise of the tiny sphere, Nor let it grow to gnarled shape and bitter grain, Nor, blighted, drop and disappear; For all the world is hungry, tliirstyj►destitute, Lacking due harvest of such fruit As waits, so small and yet so perfect, here. •. I —By Mrs. Schuyler Van Renssalaer.