John Ballance.

"Amicus Huinani Generis."

The inauguration of his statue, February, 1898.

Behold this shape against the setting
sun,
Whose rich red glory bends to crown it
now.
The form 'twould seem of one who erstwhile
moved,
And bad his being 'mongst the sons of
men,
Now formless like the leaves of bygone
years.
Tho' what's a shape upon this fleeting
stage,
Whe'er e'en the very landmarks fade
away,
And man himself becomes the silent
dust.
Here sure we have a deed, a deed
enshrined
Within the chiseled form before our
eyes,
And as we mourned the day when
Death's cold breath
Fell foul a'slant a Saviour of the
race,
So now we stand and mark the
setting sun
Play softly on his imaged form
serene,
And feel that he, at least, lived not
in vain.
* * * * *
When in the countless years that
lie beyond
Each full diurnal roll, and onward
plunge,
Of this our sphere bedecked with
endless forms
Of varied life. When shuddering
winds no more
Shall rouse to wrath Old Ocean's
slumbering form
To vent his rage against each towering
cliff;
When all mankind, the flow of
this lone earth,
Have withered from the face of hill
and plain;
And deadly silent on its downward
course
The cold sphere falls to its funereal
pyre.
What then the worth of pomp, and
great estates,
And richest mansions raised against
the skies?
One single spark of pure and homely
joy
Had far outweighed the weightiest
golden hoard
That ever laid within the grasp of
Greed.
If then the measure of our greatest
good
Lies here, and now, where all men
stand in need;
Then this great heart who spent his
living breath
To raise the race upon a higher
plane—
Where Self, the tyrant, shorn of his
fell power
Should wither 'neath the light of
ardent Truth—
Were worthy of that holiest shrine
on earth,
Which lies deep down within the
heart of man.
And as yon sun, now sinking in the
west,
Suffuses earth with many a glorious
sheen;
As round and round it coils an endless
course,
So shall the light, which sprang
from this brave heart,
Fill all men's minds with brighter
gleams of hope;
And stir them on to strive to that
true goal,
Which lies beyond the narrow
bounds of Self.