New Zealand Verse/Maoriland

XXI.

Maoriland.

Child of Old Empire! Best beloved, alone!The wizard moon and all her starry faysHave made their mirror in thy waterways,Beneath the shadow of the red sun’s throne:When the sea-hero burst into thy zoneOf Dreaming Silence, through the purple haze,What lucid visions lit his raptured gaze,What heart-hopes sang to ocean’s monotone!
And he, perchance, hath joy of thee to-day,Who won thee from the unrelenting gale,  The hopeless calm and the inconstant breeze;Where, out beyond Death’s sea-track, worlds away,The winds are wooed by his triumphant sail  To mad airs and sonorous symphonies.

D. M. Ross.