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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 9 (December 1, 1934)

New Zealand Verse

page 17

New Zealand Verse

Revelry.
Hail Christmas the debonair king
and his innocent fun,
Come join in his rollicking pranks,
call Depression a fool,
With a jest and a song just trip in
the shimmering sun By runnel and pool.
Bring forth the glad wine for your friends and your debtors to sup,
They'll brighten the world with their laughter and chatter, I wish,
All soberly quaff from the bountiful
glittering cup—
To-day what's amiss?

* * *

Mary.—A Christmas Poem.
Mary must have oft been very tired, I think,
With fighting poverty and both' ring over meat and drink;
But even in her weariness one hour she'd always keep—
One twilight hour—to sing her little Son to sleep.
O, Mary's arms were soft and warm
And Mary's voice was sweet
She sang Him tender, hushing lullabies
Of trees and flowers and spring's bare, dancing feet;
Of singing birds, and mists on dim grey hills;
Of moons and stars; of laughing winds and wild—
Dear, quaint old slumber-songs
To woo dreams for a child.
Within the purple dusk the Christ-child seems
To smile: O, God who know'st my dearest dreams,
Touch thou my eager lips with joy
That when I hush my baby I may sing
The little songs which Mary used to croon
To Jesus when He was a Boy.

The following were prize-winning poems in the New Zealand Women Writers' and Artists' Society's recent competition:—

Anno Domini.
Over the moonlit water The nightwind softly cried,
And one great seabird answered Above the swinging tide.
In the midnight blue of heaven The moon was drifting slow,
And in the silver silence We watched the Old Year go.
We remembered days of sadness, The triumphs we had won,
The loves and hates they left us … The work that had been done . .
And as we waited, swiftly From some bright star was torn
A trail of golden glory, And the glad New Year was born!
Sheila Stavely.
(First Prize Senior.)

* * *

Retrospect.
'Tis all but midnight and the sky is dark;
The street lamps dimly flicker through the snow
Which lightly flutters to the ground below—
The fire has died to one red, winking spark.
Upon the mantel stands an ancient clock,
Ticking the hours away in monotone;
A cat sleeps there upon the old hearthstone
While sly mice creep along the wall and mock.
Outside the window grows a Holly tree—
Red berries nodding—through a mist of grey,
And, far beyond, between tall spires, the sea
Is surging shoreward in a cloud of spray.
Hark! solemnly the clock strikes, four times three—
It's twelve o'clock, an English Christmas Day.
And I, far Southward, in another clime,
Am dreaming of the land where I was born—
Where Christmas dawhs a snowdecked, merry morn—
And list'ning for that self-same Christmas chime.
No fire burns here within the rusty grate,
The windows to the breeze are open wide
To let the summer's fragrance waft inside;
A rata tree stands at my garden gate.
I love New Zealand's summer and the flow'rs,
The clematis and rata's crimson spray;
I love the gorse-clad hills and ferny bow'rs,
The Tui's golden call across the bay;
But oh, I long for twelve more snowy hours—
For one more real old English Christmas Day.

* * *

A Blackbird's Song.
A blackbird on an apple-tree,
Piped a song of spring to me;
Piped a lovely, limpid measure,
Piped with joy and piped for pleasure.
Poured from his vibrant throat
Full many a lovely note;
Piercing, and clearly shrill;
Tremulous, deep, athrill …
Rising, and ringing aloft;
Falling, and flowing, and soft;
Fluted, and wistful, and wild…
Cadenced, and mellow, and mild;
Airy, and fairy, and fleet . .
Silvery, sylvan, and sweet …
Pointed and bright, like a star;
Echoing … fading … afar…
A clap of midnight-plumaged wings;
One last sweet note the minstrel flings.
A blackbird, on an apple-tree,
Piped a song of spring to me.

page break
“New Zealand can claim, without fear of contradiction, to pos sess greater variety of outstanding scenic attractiveness than any territory of similar area to be found anywhere in the world.”—Lord Bledisloe, Governor-General of New Zealand. (Rly. Publicity photos.) Scence in the North and South Islands of New Zealand.—From top (left): Mt. Egmont, seen from Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, North Island; Pohutu Geyser, Whakarewarewa, Rotorua, North Island; The Waipoua State Forest, Auckland Province, North Island; Mt. Cook (12,349ft.), from the Seely Range, South Island; Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu, South Island; The Outlet, Lake Manapouri, South Island.

“New Zealand can claim, without fear of contradiction, to pos sess greater variety of outstanding scenic attractiveness than any territory of similar area to be found anywhere in the world.”—Lord Bledisloe, Governor-General of New Zealand.
(Rly. Publicity photos.)
Scence in the North and South Islands of New Zealand.—From top (left): Mt. Egmont, seen from Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, North Island; Pohutu Geyser, Whakarewarewa, Rotorua, North Island; The Waipoua State Forest, Auckland Province, North Island; Mt. Cook (12,349ft.), from the Seely Range, South Island; Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu, South Island; The Outlet, Lake Manapouri, South Island.

page 19
A view of Parliament Buildings and grounds, Wellington. (Rly. Publicity photo.)

A view of Parliament Buildings and grounds, Wellington. (Rly. Publicity photo.)