New Zealand Verse/A Winter Daybreak
XXX.
A Winter Daybreak.
i.
From the dark gorge, where burns the morning star, I hear the glacier river rattling onAnd sweeping o’er his ice-ploughed shingle-bar, While wood-owls shout in sombre unison,And fluttering southern dancers glide and go;And black swans’ airy trumpets wildly, sweetly blow.
ii.
The cock crows in the windy winter morn, Then must I rise and fling the curtain by. All dark! But for a strip of fiery skyBehind the ragged mountains, peaked and torn. One planet glitters in the icy cold,Poised like a hawk above the frozen peaks; And bends the cypress, shuddering, to his fold,While every timber, every casement creaks. But still the skylarks sing aloud and bold;The wooded hills arise; the white cascadeShakes with wild laughter all the silent shadowy glade.
iii.
Now from the shuttered East a silvery barShines through the mist, and shows the mild day-star.The storm-wrapped peaks start out and fade again,And rosy vapours skirt the pastoral plain;The garden paths with hoary rime are wet;And sweetly breathes the winter violet;The jonquil half unfolds her ivory cup,With clouds of gold-eyed daisies waking up.
iv.
Pleasant it is to turn and see the fireDance on the hearth, as he would never tire;The home-baked loaf, the Indian bean’s perfume,Fill with their homely cheer the panelled room.Come, crazy storm! and thou, wild glittering hail,Rave o’er the roof and wave your icy veil;Shout in our ears, and take your madcap way!I laugh at storms! for Roderick comes to-day.