DREAMS.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VII, Issue 1, 1 October 1902, Page 16

DREAMS.

JProm a forthcoming volume entitled: "Heather and Fern: Songs of

Scotland and Maoriland." (See Literary Chat.)

fNCE in the days of Long Ago, In the pleasant Land of Nirgendswo, When I was yonng and Love in prime, Life swung along like an easy rhyme ; For the maid I loved was fair and fond, And I had never a thought beyond Her graceful form and her deep black eyes, And never a storm crossed Love's blue skies ; On all things lay a holy spell ; No fear or doubt in our hearts might dwell ; Ah me! but the world went well, went well. Since then, in the mists of doubt and pain, I have trod the wastes of Never-Again — An arid land with a leaden sky, Where Joy's sad ghosts go hurrying by, And Memory makes of days and nights A haunting record of lost delights. . . . Ghosts are bat ghosts. Have I only dreamed That she has been false whom I faithful deemed ? No ; that she has vanished I know too well ; And for Hope's sweet chime there's a funeral knell; Oh God ! but Remembrance is Hell, is Hell ! And yet at times, through the driving cloud, A trumpet-blast rings clear and loud, And I dream I wake from my dream of pain, In the awful land of Never Again, While Syren Hope thus woos my ear — "Love is not dead; cast out thy fear." And so I turn to my dreams anew, And I think, in the land of Dreams-Come-True, Life shall be joyous and Love shall flow As it did in the land of Nirgendswo, In the pleasant days of long ago. J. Liddbll Kelly.