Verse Old and New.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 19, 6 November 1912, Page 71

Verse Old and New.

Oceanus. HILE ntill the dusk impends 7/ | above the glimmering VIA " aste A tremor comes: wave after wave turns silvery bright: A Midden yellow gleam athwart the eant J i s traced: j lie waning starts lade forth, swilt perishing pyres. I'he moon lies pearly-wan upon the front of Night. Tlien all at once wpwells a flood of golden light And a myriad waves flash forth a myriad fireis: Now is the hour the amplest glory of life to taste. <>ut,.wimming towards the sun upon the billowy waste. Th.- pure green waves! with erests of dazzling foam ashine. Onward they roll: innumerably grand, they l,e-:t A wild ami jubilant triumph-mu.-i.:- all * divine! J'lie sea-fowl, their white kindred of * the spray-swept air, S-ream joyous echoes as with vvavedipped pinions fleet 1 They whirl before the blast or vanish 'mid blown sleet. In Imid-resounding, (strenuous, conquer, ing play they fare, J Like clouds, high over head, forgotten lands i’ the brine— Great c ombing deep-sea waves with sunlit foam ashine. On the wild wastes she lives her lawkiss, passionate life: Enslaved ol none, the imperious mighty Sea! llo.w glorious the music of her waves at S b t ri I o With all the winds of heaven that, F fiercely wooing, blow!

On high she ever chants her psalm of Victory; Afar her turbulent paen tells that she is free: The tireless albatross with wingis like foam or snow Flies leagues on leagues for days, and yet the world seems rife With nought save windy wavea and the Sea’s wild free life! How oft the strange, wild, haunting glamour of the Sea, The strange,, compelling magic of her thrilling Voice, Have won me, when, ’mid lonely places, wild and free As any wand ring wind, I have heard along the shore I’he wondrous ever-varying Sea-song loud rejoice. 1 have seen a snowy petrel, arising, poise Above the green-sloped wave, then pass lor evermore From keenest sight, and 1 have thought that I might be Thus also deathward lured by glamour of the Sea. Hark to the long resilient surge o’ the ebbing tide: With shingly rush and roar it foamu adown the strand: The great Sea heaves her restless bosom Jar and wide— Heedless she iseems of winds and all the forceful Jaws That bar her empire over the usurping Land: Enough, she dreams, is her imperial command To make the very torrents, waveward falling, pause: She seorihs the Bridegroom-Land, yet is a subject Bride For she must come and go with each recurrent tide.

On moonless nights, when winds are still, her stealthy waves C reep toward** the listening land; with ■ voices soft and low They whisper strange sea-secrets ’mid the holloyv caves: A wondrous song it is that riaes then and ialte! Deep-buried memories of the ancient long-ago, Confused strange echoes of some vanished old-world woe, Weird prophecies reverberant round those wave-worn walls: When loud the wrathful billows roar ami the Sea runes Her deepest mourning broods beneath the foaming wave--. As some aerial spirit weaves a rain bow’ veil Of mist, his high immortal loveliness to hide; So too thy palpitant water*. duskily pale, Ofttimcrs takes on a sudden splendour wild. 'Then they sea-horses rice, fierce prancing side by side, And—like the host of the dead-arisen —ride Ghastly afar to bournes where all the dead lie piled! . . . Superb, fantastic, crown’d with dying splendour frail., Thou, when in drean.e, thou weav'st thy phosphorescent v eil! Vast. vast, immeasurably vast, thy dreadful peace Wlwn heaving with slow, mighty’ breath thou Fest In utter rest, and doet thy minstering winds release So that with folded wings they too subside.. Floating through hollow spaces, though the highest Stirs his long tremulours pinions when thou sigheet! Then in thy soul, that doth in fathomless depths abide, All wild desires ami turbulent longings Profound, immeasurable then, thy dreadful peace! But in thy r moon of night, serene ao death, when under

The terrible silence of that arched dome Not a lost whisper ev'n of thy wandering thunder Ascends like the spiral smoke of perishing flame, Nor dying wave on thy nwart bosom oinks in *fo:»iu— Then, then the world is thine, thy F thy home! What then for thee, O Sea, thou Terror! or what none To rail thee by, thou Sphinx, thou Myssfery\ thou Wonder Above thou art Living Drath, Oblivion under! Fion? Ma Leod. d 4 ►S The Never Never Land. There’s a spot where skies of tunpioi«e blue Bcm! over a sapphire ocean : \\ here a beach of mellow golden hue Is lappet] by tin* wavelets’ motion. To gaze on those skies ami seas serene I've travelled on trains and t oasters ; But, alas ! the s-pot is never seen. Except on the railway posters. There's a beach where maidens lithe and slim Attract with seductive glances. As they dam*e ami play, or smoothly swim Where the creamy s< i foam <lances. On the rocks they bask, like fair I iidino. Anti the zephyrs soothe their slumbers ; But, alas ! their forms are only .-men In the t-oloured summer nuriibers. 1 here's a spot where >un*him> reigns supreme, While elsewhere we’re drenched with show ers. Where (while we >hivcr 'neith JCast winds'.scream) The residents bask 'mi.l (lowers. It’s Nice, and Eden, ami Heav’n combined A scene such as Beerbohm stages ; But, alas ! this spot I cannot find Except in the guide books' pages, - c\ w. c.