VERSE FROM A MOUNTAIN TOP

HEN Spring is in the air, the mountain calls me,
And, rounding her jagged peak I see

The earth—far, far below me,
Waking anew in every tree.
The cold grey browns of winter fade from view,
And soft young green and blossoms fair
~ Cover the gardens down below me

Fresh with dew.

When Summer dawn peeps o’er the mountain pathway,
And the songs of the birds entice me from my rest—
Then do I leave the world behind me

‘And come to the place that I love best.

And when the glorious dawn is over,

Then back to my cabin home again,

Back to the blue smoke midst the fir trees

Away from the haunts of men.

While Autumn’s varying colours creep up the mountain’s side,
I can view the busy city, the big ships and the tide,

The hustle and the bustle, that goes on far below,

The heartbreak and the failure that only a city can know,
How in the grip of circumstance the millions toil for gold—
How with this toil and grief and pain, many of them grow old,
And while I sit in solitude, I ponder many things,

And I think how on a mountain we all are queens or kings.

MADGE FARMER.

DAWNLIGHT AND NIGHTFALL

AY came out of the sea and smiled,
And her blushes made rosy the dewy world,
And her red lips curved like a happy child’s
When her golden hair by the wind was twirled,
And her eyes so blue the world beguiled
When Day came out of the sea and smiled.

Day lay down in the golden west,

And her lids fell soft o’er her tired eyes,
And her white hands folded on her breast,
Sweet day smiled her last good-byes,
Then, tucked in a blanket of grey to rest,
Day slept sound in the dreaming west.

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