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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 8 (November 1939)

Yearnings

Yearnings.

He was a wanderer, and his sojourn
at the inn
Made festival for us, poor rustic clods,
We listened to him nightly, heard
strange tales
Of pearls and plunder, bellying Island
sails,
Of sharks and swordfish, great Antarctic
whales,
Tales of strange climes, strange peoples
and strange gods.
So for a sennight did we gather there
To listen to his voice, and sit and dream,
Our minds a-voyaging to alien lands,
Seeking Romance on dazzling coral
sands,
Finding Adventure, with fortune in her
hands,
Tasting Life's bounties in an ever-
flowing stream.
One of our number, more curious than
the rest,
Asked of the stranger, “What is it that
you seek?”
“I seek repose to end my weary days,
“A rood of ground, a house by quiet
ways,
“Where cattle lie and watch the
lumbering drays
“Roll down the road.” We others did
not speak.

page 44