Where Beauty Passes.

This way went beauty. See, among the grass,
How bright the daisies where her feet have pressed.
The willows bowed their heads to see her pass
And spread their leafy arms to shade her rest.
I know she paused beside this slender stream
Cradled in fern and blue forget-me-not,
For here the dragon-flies are all adream
And hang bemused, their darting flight forgot.
So long she lingered through the forest ways
Each flashing leaf proclaims her presence still;
And then, be sure, she stayed a while to praise
The manuka's white mantle on the hill.
Here moss and fern spread carpets for her feet,
And here, in stately ranks, the nikaus stand
To line the way, with crowns up-raised to greet
The ageless queen of this primeval land.
But hush, tread softly! See, beside the lake
Where clematis lets down her starry hair,
Beauty lies dreaming. Let no sound awake
Or fright her, for she sleeps so sweetly there.

—Jean H. Mather.