Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/224
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
188
Faerie.
Will plead in those eyes that were all disdain,And break her bosom with a sob of pain,And her hot lips will lavish all their storeOf hungry kisses on me—then shall IRemember all her queenly coldness, orWith kisses make her breathing beauty mine?
CXXV.
Faerie.
Why have we in these isles no fairy dell,No haunted wood, nor wild enchanted mere?Our woods are dark, our lakelets’ waters clear,As those of any land where fairies dwell.In every verdant vale our streamlets tellTheir simple story to the list’ning ear,Our craggy mountains steep are full of fear—E’en rugged men have felt their awful spell.
Yet lack they glamour of the fairy tale,Nor gnome nor goblin do they e’er recall,Though Nature speaks, e’en in the wind’s sad wail.Who shall give meaning to Her voices all?The poet’s art,—as yet without avail,—Must weave the story of both great and small.