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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 1, No. 4 March 30, 1938

When First I Came

When First I Came

When first I came, plain-dweller, Lover
Of sunlit levels, dreaming distance
To this your city of the hills,
I loved it not.

[unclear: Abrupt] forbidding, [unclear: hills] rose dark above me,
Crowding out the sky:
And huddled on their savaged slopes
A thousand dingy dwellings peered
Into the streets below.
Hot, and hideous with the noise
The feverish, futile business
Of man.

But I have since wandered on windy hill-tops
Under a splendour of blue;
Riot of gold around me.
Its warm breath sweet in my face;
I have stood in the sun's benediction.
The wind's embrace.
Far, far around, the fields of heaven
lay below the blue sen waters, shimmering.
Unto the utmost verge.
Oh! here have I found
Plains that are limitless.
Distances royally free!
And here, in the eye or the sun.
Alone with the endless view.
Peace has returned to me.
And freedom's quietude.

—U.H.S.