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The Spike: or, Victoria College Review, June 1915

Laudabunt Alii . .

page 34

Laudabunt Alii . . .

Let others talk of Christchurch Town
Beside the winding Avon,
Of Auckland, linking sea with sea,
Or Nelson's sunny haven;
Of Milford Sound and Mitre Peak,
And of the Falls which thunder
From ledge to ledge two thousand feet
On to the black rocks under.

page 35

Some praise the Taieri's rustic charm,
Recalling memories tender
Of held and hedgerow, barn and byre;
And some their tribute render
To Egmont's glittering cone of snow
Against the sun uplifted
While far below through glade and gorge
The mist moves, slowly drifted.

Many, again, do most admire
The forest's green recesses,
Its dim cathedral aisles, wherein
No foot profanely presses,
And caverns on whose crystal walls
The glow-worms' love-lamps quiver
Like cluster'd gems, illumining
Waitomo's mystic river.

But more to me than all of them,
Though all be Beauty's daughters,
Are fair Poneke's verdant hills
And ever-changing waters,
Now peaceful as a mountain tarn
While all the winds are sleeping,
Now lash'd to foam, when o'er the strait
The South comes grandly sweeping.

Where'er you are, for killing Care
There's nothing, Tom, like liquor:
When the Great Duke saw Marmont's men
Converging thick and thicker
On Salamanca's famous field,
He gave—so runs the story—
An extra grog all round, and then
Soon sent the foe to glory.

—F.