Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/247

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The Land of My Desire.
211

CXLVI.

The Land of My Desire.

A wild sea-rover, lined and gray, To me long since a story told,Of meadows far and far away That blossom into flowers of gold;
Of streams that were long lullabies For ever flowing thro’ the vales,Kissed by a low and loving wind To music like the Nightingale’s.
And I who listened, felt the spell Take hold of manhood on its throne,And, careless then of Heaven or Hell, Took ship unto the vast Unknown.
The morning set the sails afire With flames that kindled all my blood,As to the Land of my Desire I steered across a foaming flood.
Day after day the Sun did turn From East to West, from sea to sea,Night after night the Stars did burn Above the Ocean’s minstrelsy.
And like a far mirage I seemed To see fair woman-faces shineWhere the great moon-washed spaces gleamed On league and rolling league of brine.
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