THE DAUGHTERS OF OUR LAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 45, 1 March 1889, Page 13

THE DAUGHTERS OF OUR LAND.

BY BUQENI DAVIS.

How aweet these blushing faces are, How fond the thoughts that fly From eyes, before whoße glance each it&r Grows pale along the sky ! What glorious tresses proudly iweep Down neck and bosom white, And o'er etch forehead coyly creep In laughter and delight ! How rich their cheeks Ia beauty's streaks, By healthful breeze* fanned ! What carmine glow Their features show — The daughters of our land 1 Ob, I have seen the daintiest dames Beneath Italian skies, And basked me in the burning flames That steal from Spanish eyes ; There's beauty, and enough to spare, Within the homes of France ; I've felt the spell of Tyrol's fair— The Creole's melting glance ; Bat, oh, not they, Though fond and gay, Csuld tempt the heart and hand, While beauty fires, And love inspires The daughters of our land I Each sigh of their'a the bosom thrills Bach glance ia frank and free. Tbeir voices are aa summer rills A-singing to the eea I Tbeir lips aie fragrant as the balm That steals o'er Araby, Their fa'th in tempest or in calm Is strong as mountains be ! The brightest gems Or diadems Of love and virtue stand In all the pride Of youthood'a tide The daughters of our land ' How joyously their bosoms swell To Erin's trumpet call I Our motherland is theirs, and well They love her, one and all 1 Oh, never throbbed more faithful hearts Than theirs have always been, And Tain were all the tyrant's arts To wean them from the Green 1 Your mothers held That flag of old And fought by Shannon's strand ; Be yours their faiih In life and death, O daughters of our land I