Page:The Kea, a New Zealand problem (1909).pdf/10

Where sky above and lake below
Would like one sphere of azure show,
Save for the circling belt alone,
The softly-painted purple zone
Of mountains—bathed where nearer seen
In sunny tints of sober green,
With velvet darks of woods between,
All glassy glooms and shifty sheen;
While here and there, some peak of snow
Would o’er their tenderer violet lean,
And yet within this region, fair
With wealth of waving woods—these glades
And glens and lustre-smitten shades,
.......
Ay! in this realm of seeming rest,
What sights you meet and sounds of dread!
—ALFRED DOMETT.