This page has been validated.
MAORILAND.
Last sunny outpost of the Pole, far-thrown
Among cathedral rocks, where Ocean plays
Freedom’s first hymn thro’ all her waterways,
In thee is Beauty crowned, in thee alone!
When old sea-heroes burst into thy zone
Of dreamy silence, thro’ a purple haze,
Twin hyacinths upon the foam, their gaze
Saw morning’s nuptials mingled with thine own.
Once when the Master on his Ocean-board
Spread Man’s great feast of Continent and Isle
Flow’rd with white streams, and mighty mountains massed
In snow-helmed legions over vale and fiord,
King-like, did He not say of thee, and smile,
“Children, behold! the best wine at the last!”
David Ross,
Hamilton, N.Z.,
24/10/06.
