THE CHANGELESS ONE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 258, 12 April 1878, Page 3

THE CHANGELESS ONE.

BY MAURICE I^EG-AX

[For the Avo Maria.']

The flaming fire of the oriole • . No longer glows in the summer air, The waves of the stream no longer roll Under the feathery maiden-hair : Days that seemed changelessly soft and mild Have changed to the winter fierce and wild. The castanet ofjjthe katydid Soundeth no more in the autumn air, The grass and the tree-roots all lie hid, Deep 'ncath a cloak more soft and fair Than wool that is shorn in shearing time — Than flow'rs that fall in the orange clime. Changes the call of the katydid, Changes the oriole's scarlet glare, Changes all earth; and the frolic kid, And the child that climbs his father's chair, Will ripe and ripe, as the swift hours chime And change 'neath the hand of changing time. Swift changes even the human soul, Humanly tarnished, then Godlike fair, Redder than blood of the oriole, Whiter than robes that the angfels wear Alone God is changeless, soul beguiled By dreams that are changing, sin-defiled !