Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/153
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The Strayed Albatross.
117
And stretched his tinselled neck for sea;
All Nature’s feathered favourites poured
To their adored undoubted Lord
Of light and heat, accordance sweet
Of pure impassioned revelry;
And honey-bird and mocking-bird
And he of clearest melody,
The blossom-loving bell-bird—each
Delicious-throated devotee
In happy ignorance framed to be
Content with rapture—longing-free
For life or love they cannot reach—
Like chimes rich-tuned, to heaven preferred
The praise of their mellifluous glee;
Each lurking lyrist of the grove
With all his might sang all his love;
Till every foliage-filled ravine
And bower of amaranthine green
Rang persevering ecstasy.
All Nature’s feathered favourites poured
To their adored undoubted Lord
Of light and heat, accordance sweet
Of pure impassioned revelry;
And honey-bird and mocking-bird
And he of clearest melody,
The blossom-loving bell-bird—each
Delicious-throated devotee
In happy ignorance framed to be
Content with rapture—longing-free
For life or love they cannot reach—
Like chimes rich-tuned, to heaven preferred
The praise of their mellifluous glee;
Each lurking lyrist of the grove
With all his might sang all his love;
Till every foliage-filled ravine
And bower of amaranthine green
Rang persevering ecstasy.
LXXI.
The Strayed Albatross.
Here where the City’s sound
Floods o’er his dumb distress,
A storm-bound wanderer, bound
In bondage pitiless,
He waits what doom may rise:
Bewildered patience in his eyes.
Floods o’er his dumb distress,
A storm-bound wanderer, bound
In bondage pitiless,
He waits what doom may rise:
Bewildered patience in his eyes.