The Pauper's Drive. To the churchyard a pauper is going, I wot; He's only a pauper whom nobody owns!" O, where are the mourners? Alas! there are none; He's only a pauper whom nobody owns!' What a jolting and creaking and splashing and din! 66 'Rattle his bones over the stones! Poor pauper defunct! he has made some approach He's only a pauper whom nobody owns!" You bumpkins! who stare at your brother conveyed, Behold what respect to a cloddy is paid! And be joyful to think, when by death you're laid low, You've a chance to the grave like a 'gemman" to go! "Rattle his bones over the stones! But a truce to this strain; for my soul it is sad, The Sick Stockrider. "H OLD hard, Ned! Lift me down once more and lay me in the shade: Old man, you've had your work cut out to guide Both horses, and to hold me in the saddle when I swayed, 6 All through the hot, slow, sleepy, silent ride." The dawn at Moorabinda" was a mist rack dull and dense, The sunrise was a sullen, sluggish lamp. I was dozing in the gateway at Arthbuthnot's boundary fence, I was dreaming on the limestone cattle camp. We crossed the creek at Carricksford and sharply through the haze, And suddenly, the sun shot flaming forth. To the southward lay Tralawa with the sand peaks all ablaze, And the flush fields of Glen Lomond lay to north. Now westward winds the bridle-path that leads to Sandisfarm, And yonder looms the double headed bluff; How the sun-dried reed beds crackled, how the flint strewn ranges rang To the strokes of Mountain and Acrobat. Hard behind them in the timber, harder still across the heath, Close beside them through the tea-tree scrub we dashed; And the golden-tinted fern leaves, how they rustled underneath, And the honeysuckle odors, how they crashed! "We led the hunt throughout, Ned on the chestnut and I on the gray, And the troopers were three hundred yards behind, Whilst we emptied our six-shooters on the bushrangers at bay. While you grappled with the leader, man to man, and horse to horse, And you rolled together when the chestnut reared; course, A narrow shave-his powder missed your beard! In these hours when life is ebbing, how those days when life was young Come back to us! How clearly I recall Even the yarns Jack Hall invented, and the songs Jem Roper sung; And where are now Jem Roper and Jack Hall? Ay! nearly all our comrades of the old colonial school, Our ancient boon companions, now are gone; Hard livers for the most part, somewhat reckless as a rule, It seems that you and I are left alone. I've had my share of pastime and I've done my share of toil, And life is short-the longest life a span! I care not now to tarry for the corn and for the oil, 'Tis somewhat late to trouble thus I know: I should live the same life over if I had to live again, And the chances are I go where most men go. The deep blue skies wax dusky and the tall green trees grow dim, The sward beneath me seems to heave and fall; And sickly smoky shadows through the sleepy sunlight twine, And on the very sun's face leave their pall. Oh! let me slumber in the hollow where the wattle blossoms wave, With never stone or rail to fence my bed; Should the sturdy station children pull the bush flowers on my grave, I may chance to hear them romping over head. -Adam Lyndsay Gordon. Parting. Remember that an eye as bright Is dimmed-a heart as true is broken, -Thomas Kibble Hervey. RELIGION. THOU eternal One! whose presence bright All space doth occupy, all motion guide; Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight; Thou only God! There is no God beside! Being above all beings! Three in one! Whom none can comprehend, and none explore; Who fill'st existence with thyself alone; Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er!— Being whom we call God-and know no more! In its sublime research, philosophy May measure out the ocean deep-may count The sands or the sun's rays,-but God! for thee There is no weight nor measure;-none can mount Up to thy mysteries. Reason's brightest spark, Though kindled by thy light, in vain would try To trace thy counsels, infinite and dark; And thought is lost ere thought can soar so highE'en like past moments in eternity. Thou from primeval nothingness didst call, Sprung forth from thee, of light, joy, harmony, Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine: Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround; God. They own thy power, accomplish thy command, Yes! as a drop of water in the sea, Naught? but I live, and on hope's pinion fly I live, and breathe, and dwell; aspiring high I am, O God! and surely thou must be! Α' The Love of God. [From the Provencal of Bernard Rascas.] LL things that are on earth shall wholly pass away, Except the love of God, which shall live and last for aye. The forms of men shall be as they had never been; The blasted groves shall lose their fresh and tender green; The birds of the thicket shall end their pleasant song, And the nightingale shall cease to chant the evening long. The kine of the pasture shall feel the dart that kills, And the strong and fearless bear, in the trodden dust shall lie; And the dolphin of the sea, and the mighty whale, shall die. And realms shall be dissolved, and empires be no more, And they shall bow to death, who ruled from shore to shore; And the great globe itself, so the holy writings tell, With the rolling firmament, where the starry armies dwell, Shall melt with fervent heat-they shall all pass away, Except the love of God, which shall live and last for aye. -William Cullen Bryant. The Eternal. HE One remains, the many change and pass; Life, like a dome of many-colored glass, If thou wouldst be with that which thou dost seek! No more let Life divide what Death can join together. That Light whose smile kindles the universe, The breath whose might I have invoked in song I am borne darkly, fearfully, afar; While, burning through the inmost veil of heaven, The soul of Adonais, like a star, Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are. -Percy Bysshe Shelley. (Adonais). |