Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 13, Issue 1 (April 1, 1938.)

[section]

Hioni.

Hioni was most lithe and small.
I see him through the varied pall
That holds me from the light of day.
I see him on his homeward way,
At evening in his little strides
Of dingy white. He grins and glides
Like any little Octoroon
Who sets the mammies all a-croon.
Bye-bye, Hioni.
Cuddle like a coney
Your little couch upon.
Bye-bye, Baby John.
Let the mighty ocean mother
Send you dreams one on the other.
Gentle Maoris of the South
Are soft of speech and lush of mouth,
And Baby John's a Southern child.
I knew it as he passed and smiled.
I think if I could be forgiven
Way back to eighteen ninety-seven
I'd stand at evening by a fence
Of manuka with frankinsense
Of garden sweets about my face,
And think of nothing for a space
Till by the little sandy way
Hioni comes at close of day Like any little Octoroon
Who sets the mammies all a-croon.
Bye-bye, Hioni.
Cuddle like a coney
Your little couch upon.
Bye-bye, Baby John
Let the dreamy stars look down
As they looked on David's town;
Ah, how long ago, Boy John,
There's a thing to think upon.
—C. R. Allen.

* * *