Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/148
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112
The White Convolvulus.
Beautiful all. But we passed them thus,
Passed to a snowy convolvulus
White in the air o’er the waters flow,
Shadowy, wan in the wave below.
Passed to a snowy convolvulus
White in the air o’er the waters flow,
Shadowy, wan in the wave below.
Goblet ethereal swaying clear,
Pale as the stars on a midnight mere,
Thinner than shells that in ocean lie
Or pinion carven of ivory.
Pale as the stars on a midnight mere,
Thinner than shells that in ocean lie
Or pinion carven of ivory.
Cup of aërial beauty made,
Touched by no tarnish of earth it swayed,
And as it answered the air’s light breath,
An image waved in the stream beneath.
Touched by no tarnish of earth it swayed,
And as it answered the air’s light breath,
An image waved in the stream beneath.
As the milk-white flower from side to side
Swung like a bell o’er the cool green tide,
Leaning and dreaming we listened low
For clear bell-music anigh the flow.
Swung like a bell o’er the cool green tide,
Leaning and dreaming we listened low
For clear bell-music anigh the flow.
Poets there be who have ears to hear
The star’s high music ’twixt sphere and sphere.
Lovers there be who in golden hours
May know the voices of earth’s frail flowers
The star’s high music ’twixt sphere and sphere.
Lovers there be who in golden hours
May know the voices of earth’s frail flowers
Lovers twain we were happy there
In a glory neither of earth nor air,
And each through the other’s soul could well
The music catch of the fairy bell.
In a glory neither of earth nor air,
And each through the other’s soul could well
The music catch of the fairy bell.
Faint as the sough of a desert tree
When a slow wind stirs it carelessly,
Light as the murmur of dancing flame
Its voice in the hush of the morning came:—
When a slow wind stirs it carelessly,
Light as the murmur of dancing flame
Its voice in the hush of the morning came:—