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New Zealand Bird Songs

The Kiwi

page 34

The Kiwi

Under the roots of a tree,
Hidden, oh hidden deep,
Safe from the prying sun,
Huddled the Kiwis sleep.

But when the night flies down,
And stars slip through the pool,
Out from the roots they creep,
Into the twilight cool.

And the oldest bird of the tribe,
Calls them before his face,
And tells from his proud old beak
The wonder of their race.

“Children, who now are small,
Hearken, oh hearken well,
For ye are kin of kings,
Hatched of a mighty shell.

Dwarfs of a giant strain,
Leaves of a smitten tree,
Shards of a dying star,
Kin of the Moa, we.

So when ye thrid the swamp,
Cool on the twilight term,
Spearing the secret earth,
For stir of the hidden worm.

page 35

Remember our lonely pride,
So old that no man knows
Where or whence we are come,
Old as the wind that blows.

Old as the twilight sky,
Hearken, oh Kiwis, well,
For ye are kin of kings,
Hatched of a mighty shell.”