Verse Old and New.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 15, 9 October 1912, Page 71

Verse Old and New.

The Baby. OE stood aside, where none might IA I J And watched her passing down / the street; Her look was glad; and tenderly She guided a sweet baby's feet; He wondered, seeing her go by, If she recalled a certain day When she was not too proud to sigh Because he coldly turned away. He'd fancied that she might be sad And waiting still when he returned To claim the love that once he had In foolish haste too lightly spurned; But, with a look that he had ne'er Supposed might glorify her face, She led a baby past him where lie peered out from his hiding place. lie turned away, at last, to go Alone through life, to sadly dream Of joys that he might never know And pledges he might not redeem, While she, recalling what he said When first they loved and gladly planned, Went smiling down the street ami led Iler sister’s baby by the hand. —S. E. Kiser. © © © Ou the Ferry Boat. 'Die ferry-boat into the waters .dim Slipped forward with a -sound of churning foam, Studded with stars hung low the heaven’s dome Around them, and along the city’s rim, Over the shadowed river’.r murky flowing Glittered a million lights of Btarry sheen. Sharp will's and ocean odours, salt ami keen. Swept up the east, and sullen whistles blowing

In from the sea-gate through the ocean ■ways. Past dock and dock, past lamp and flaring lamp They glided into the twilight ehill and damp, Over the waters, through the ghostly haze, Over 'the lifting and the lapsing tide, And left the eity lying sleeple.ssly At the soft bosom of the heaving sea, At the bosopn of the everlasting bride. The silence and the engirdling solitude Drew them together closer more and more. Never had he observed her thus before, So grave and yet so merry was her mood, So tender yet so merry; all her speech Was glad by turns and sad like April weather— Close on the upper deck they sat together Each Jost within the happiness of each. No less than if in an enchanted boat They had sought beyond the rstars a fairy realm Of nionques and minarets, Love at the helm And Joys for oarsmen, on the w-aves afloat, They were embarked and drifted on the stream Of night and waves, beyond the hand of day And all her cares, cut loose and cut away With steering prow into the dusk of dream. And now at some new wonder as they went .. Unveiled before them, with delight they sprang To scan the waters, now their laughter rang. Now they sat wordless in a deep content.

Around them reached the gray and. glimmering shore. Fortress and headland, tower and lamp of warning, - —The «ea-road to the worlds beyond the morning Behind them, and the eternal star* before. —From “The Human Fantasy,” by John Hal) Wheelock. •3 *3 The Seagull. The woods are full of merry minstrelsy; Glad are the hedges with the notes of spring; But o’er the sad and uncompanioned sea No love-born voices ring. Gray mariner of every ocean clime. If I could wander on as sure a wing, Or boat with yellow web thy pathless sea, J, too, might cease to sing. Would I could share thy silver-flashing swoop. Thy steady poise above the bounding deep, Or buoyant float with thine instinctive trust, Rocked in a dreamless sleep ! Thine is the heritage of simple things, The untasked liberty of sea and air, Some tender yearning for the peopled nest Thy only freight of care. Thou hast no forecast of the morrow’s need, No bitter memory of yesterdays ; Nor stirs 'thy thought that airy sea o’er* head. Nor ocean’s boundless ways Thou silent raider of the abounding sea, Intent and resolute, ah, who may guess What primal notes of gladness thou hast lost In this vast loneliness ! \\ here bides thy mate ? On some lorn ocean rock Seaward she watches. Hark .’ the one ' * shrill cry, Strident and harsh, across the wave shall bp Her welcome—thy reply.

When first thy sires, with joy -discovered Hight, High on exultant pinions sped afar. Had they no cry oi gladness or of low, No bugle note of war ? What gallant song their happy treasuiv held, Such as the pleasant woodland folk employ, The lodo sea-thunder quelled, Thou hast one note For Jove, for hate, for joy. et who that hears this stormy ocean Would not, like them. at last be hushed and stilled. Were all his days through endless ages past With this stern music filled ? V hat matters it ? Ah, not alone are loved Leaf-cloistered poets who ••an love in song. Home to the wild-eyed ! I Lime ! She will not miss The music lost so long. Home ! for the night wind signals, “Get thee home;“ Home, hardy admiral of the rolling deep; . Home from the foray ! Home ! That silenced song Love’s endless echoes keep Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell. * *3 »3 Desiccated Wisdom. Upon 'the question of give and take -Some persons easily con! rive to live, they do the taking; no complaint they make So long as others give. Jiv not to look the tool. One’s outward show Not always is de. epi ive, you shoifhl know. < our!ship is the prospectus; marriage soon Results in insolvent honeymoon. For lack of courage from that road to stray. Some men pl oil down the straight and narrow way.