Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/78
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42
The Pink and White Terraces.
Along that shining surface move
No ripples; not the slightest swell
Rolls o’er the mirror darkly green,
Where, every feature limned so well—
Pale, silent and serene as death—
The cataract’s image hangs beneath
The cataract—but not more serene,
More phantom-silent than is seen
The white rose-hued reality above.
No ripples; not the slightest swell
Rolls o’er the mirror darkly green,
Where, every feature limned so well—
Pale, silent and serene as death—
The cataract’s image hangs beneath
The cataract—but not more serene,
More phantom-silent than is seen
The white rose-hued reality above.
They paddle past—for on the right
Another Cataract comes in sight;
Another broader, grander flight
Of steps—all stainless, snowy-bright!
They land—their curious way they track
Near thickets made by contrast black;
And then that wonder seems to be
A Cataract carved in Parian stone,
Or any purer substance known—
Agate or milk-chalcedony!
Its showering snow-cascades appear
Long ranges bright of stalactite,
And sparry frets and fringes white,
Thick-falling, plenteous, tier o’er tier;
Its crowding stairs, in bold ascent
Piled up that silvery-glimmering height,
Are layers, they know—accretions slow
Of hard silicious sediment:
For as they gain a rugged road,
And cautious climb the solid rime,
Each step becomes a terrace broad—
Each terrace a wide basin brimmed
With water, brilliant, yet in hue
The tenderest, delicate harebell-blue
Deepening to violet! Slowly climb
The twain, and turn from time to time
Another Cataract comes in sight;
Another broader, grander flight
Of steps—all stainless, snowy-bright!
They land—their curious way they track
Near thickets made by contrast black;
And then that wonder seems to be
A Cataract carved in Parian stone,
Or any purer substance known—
Agate or milk-chalcedony!
Its showering snow-cascades appear
Long ranges bright of stalactite,
And sparry frets and fringes white,
Thick-falling, plenteous, tier o’er tier;
Its crowding stairs, in bold ascent
Piled up that silvery-glimmering height,
Are layers, they know—accretions slow
Of hard silicious sediment:
For as they gain a rugged road,
And cautious climb the solid rime,
Each step becomes a terrace broad—
Each terrace a wide basin brimmed
With water, brilliant, yet in hue
The tenderest, delicate harebell-blue
Deepening to violet! Slowly climb
The twain, and turn from time to time