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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 64

Wairakei

Wairakei.

To fair Wairakei have I been—
Wairakei, the wonderland;
And my charmed and dazzled eyes have seen
Such marvellous sights and grand,
That my pen is powerless to describe
The glories mine eyes looked on:
The vision of all that geyser tribe
Like a dream is past and gone.

page 93

I bathed in Te Kiriohinekai,—
Hot water up to my chin,—
And the name, translated, by-the-bye,
From the Maori, means New Skin;
And it ought to be called New Hair, beside,
For at three months after date
From the first sweet dip, if it's daily tried,
Twill recover the baldest pate.

And give it a strand new colour, too;
Turn red or grey to black—
Which is more than the patent hair-dyes do:—
Kiriohinekai's no false quack.
It cures rheumatics, neuralgia, gout,
And a number of other ills;
It is better, a thousand times—about,—
Than doctors' potions and pills.

From Kiriohinekai swift I went
To bathe in Wairakei's stream;
And the ti-tree and tupaki o'er me bent,
And I felt as 'twere a dream,
Or a glimpse into happy fairyland,
And I wished it might last forever,
As I ended my bath with an ice-cold dip
In the blue Waikato River.

I saw Karapiti's steam blow-hole,
And I heaved a mighty sigh
As I gazed on Tongariro's cone;
And I said, "How's that for high? "
And Ruapehu's taller peak
Looked down with a lofty scorn,
And seemed to smile at my mortal cheek,
With a smile that was old and worn.

And I felt so small that I turned away,
With another mighty sigh,
And I swiftly fled to bathe again
In Te Kiriohinekai.
And I saw the geyser-fountains play,
And the clear blue water flowing;
And I said, "I could stop here all the day,
But I know I must be going."

page 94

So I said farewell to Te Huka Fall,
And the blue Waikato River;
And I said farewell to the geysers all,
And they said—naught whatever.
And then I mounted my milk-white steed,
And, as soon as I got on his back, he
Galloped away, nor stopped all day,
Till he'd borne me far from Wairakei.—

G.R

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