Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/68
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32
Written in Australia.
But o’er my isles the forest drew
A mantle thick—save where a peak
Shows his grim teeth a-snarl—and through
The filtered coolness creek and creek
Tangled in ferns, in whispers speak.
A mantle thick—save where a peak
Shows his grim teeth a-snarl—and through
The filtered coolness creek and creek
Tangled in ferns, in whispers speak.
And there the placid great lakes are,
And brimming rivers proudly force
Their ice-cold tides. Here, like a scar,
Dry-lipped, a withered watercourse
Crawls from a long-forgotten source.
And brimming rivers proudly force
Their ice-cold tides. Here, like a scar,
Dry-lipped, a withered watercourse
Crawls from a long-forgotten source.
My glance, home-gazing, scarce discerns
This listless girl, in whose dark hair
A starry-red hibiscus burns;
Her pallid cheeks are like a pair
Of nuns—they are so fragile-fair;
This listless girl, in whose dark hair
A starry-red hibiscus burns;
Her pallid cheeks are like a pair
Of nuns—they are so fragile-fair;
And like a sin her warm lips flame
In her wan face; swift passions brim
In her brown eyes, and ebb with shame;
Her form is sinuous and slim—
That lyric line of breast and limb!
In her wan face; swift passions brim
In her brown eyes, and ebb with shame;
Her form is sinuous and slim—
That lyric line of breast and limb!
But one there waits whose brown face glows,
Whose cheeks with Winter’s kisses smart—
The flushing petals of a rose!
Of earth and sun she is a part;
Her brow is Greek and Greek her heart.
Whose cheeks with Winter’s kisses smart—
The flushing petals of a rose!
Of earth and sun she is a part;
Her brow is Greek and Greek her heart.
At love she laughs a faint disdain;
Her heart no weakly one to charm;
Robust and fragrant as the rain,
The dark bush soothed her with his balm,
The mountains gave her of their calm.
Her heart no weakly one to charm;
Robust and fragrant as the rain,
The dark bush soothed her with his balm,
The mountains gave her of their calm.