New Zealand Verse/The Land of my Desire

CXLVI.

The Land of My Desire.

A wild sea-rover, lined and gray,
To me long since a story told,
Of meadows far and far away
That blossom into flowers of gold;

Of streams that were long lullabies
For ever flowing thro’ the vales,
Kissed by a low and loving wind
To music like the Nightingale’s.

And I who listened, felt the spell
Take hold of manhood on its throne,
And, careless then of Heaven or Hell,
Took ship unto the vast Unknown.

The morning set the sails afire
With flames that kindled all my blood,
As to the Land of my Desire
I steered across a foaming flood.

Day after day the Sun did turn
From East to West, from sea to sea,
Night after night the Stars did burn
Above the Ocean’s minstrelsy.

And like a far mirage I seemed
To see fair woman-faces shine
Where the great moon-washed spaces gleamed
On league and rolling league of brine.

At times a wayward kiss I quaffed
From some sea-nymph beside my barque,
But as in very joy I laughed
The Stars forsook me, in the dark.

One day on the horizon spread,
Like some long cloud surprised in sleep,
I saw an Island lift its head
A little way above the deep.

And there, in the cool shadow-time
I landed, weary of the Sea,
While maidens of the sunny clime
Gave draught on draught of Love to me.

And when I laid me down to rest
Tired of the dance, the feast and wine,
And full red lips too closely pressed,
Too often and too hot, on mine;

One woke me in the night and said—
“Receive the crown that thou hast won,”
And placing it upon my head
She called me her “beloved one.”

And there I saw a harlot stand,
The lustre dead in eyes and hair,
Alone with me upon the land
Of my Desire, and . . . my Despair.

D. M. Ross