Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/101
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In the Moonlight.
65
Oh, lonely star! But the song hath ended, The purple mountains grow darker yet;Soon will the crimson and grey be blended, And nought to tell where the sun hath set;The blue dusk deepens, more stars there be:What is the promise ye hold for me?
Where the hills drop down to the sea which spurneth, For ever and ever, the patient land;Where the blue hills melt to the blue sky, burneth A distant fire like a love-lit brand.My path descends, and it goes from sight,But I know it is strong for the coming night.
O stars and fire! is your inward meaning To tell of a day which is yet to be?Of an hour when Time shall go backward leaning To pluck white roses and red for me?When the joy which is past shall come back—come back—With a threefold strength that shall nothing lack?
Clara Singer Poynter.
XXXVI.
In the Moonlight.
The moon is bright, and the winds are laid, and the river is roaring by;Orion swings, with his belted lights low down in the western sky;