Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/255
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Not Understood.
219
Are we not each a lamp
Of frail and earthen form,
Wherein a spark doth shelter
Beyond the tempest’s pelter,
Lightening the chill and damp,
Swinging through night and storm?
Of frail and earthen form,
Wherein a spark doth shelter
Beyond the tempest’s pelter,
Lightening the chill and damp,
Swinging through night and storm?
We know that clouded light
Is as the light of stars,
And though the bowl be broken,
This is our sign and token,
That flame by mutual might
Shall climb their shining cars.
Is as the light of stars,
And though the bowl be broken,
This is our sign and token,
That flame by mutual might
Shall climb their shining cars.
CLII.
Not Understood.
Not understood. We move along asunder,
Our paths grow wider as the seasons creep
Along the years; we marvel and we wonder
Why life is life: and then we fall asleep,
Not understood.
Our paths grow wider as the seasons creep
Along the years; we marvel and we wonder
Why life is life: and then we fall asleep,
Not understood.
Not understood. We gather false impressions,
And hug them closer as the years go by,
Till virtues often seem to us transgressions;
And thus men rise and fall, and live and die,
Not understood.
And hug them closer as the years go by,
Till virtues often seem to us transgressions;
And thus men rise and fall, and live and die,
Not understood.