r F i^ N
^-•-KTvimsKjav^ is-v
^ai7JV UDDELL JiELhY,
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
■'■♦■/
Heather and Fern :
Songs of Scotland and Maoriland
By JOHN LID DELL KELLY.
" All the soul in rapt suspension —
AI! the quivering, palpitating
Chords of life in utmost tension
With the fervour of invention,
With the rapture of creating!"
-LoHg/ethw .
WELLINGTON. N.Z. :
Printed for the Author by the New Zealand Times Company, Ltd
1902.
^i!^^-..-^-'^^
'''V.
^3^
Heather ar)5 Fern.
Fvom this isle in the wide Southcvn Ocean,
How oft does my sivift fancy fiee,
On pinions of love and devotion,
Dear home of my fathers, to thee !
In a land lapped in bright summer zveather,
I sigh for one rugged and stern ;
I long for the bloom of the Heather
In the Land of the Kauri and Fern.
Though here there is nought to remind me
Of the dark, misty land of my birth.
Not tears and not distance can blind me
To scenes that are dearest on earth.
As I list to the Tui's clear whistle,
I sigh — " Shall I ever return
To the Land of the Heather and Thistle
From the Land of the Kauri and Fern ?'
Here the Spirit of Beauty rejoices
In scenes that enrapture the eye :
Earth raises her manifold voices
In praise to the bountiful sky.
In the blue of the infinite ether
More bright constellations may burn ;
But their glint on the Thistle and Heather
Were more fair than on Kauri and Fern.
Though dear to my heart is Zealandia,
For the home of my boyhood I yearn ;
I dream, amid sunshine and grandeur,
Of n land that is misty and stern ;
From the Land of the Moa and Maori
My thoughts to old Scotia 7i'ill turn ;
Thus the Heather is blent with the Kauri
And the Thistle entwined ivith the Fern.
1887.
- .'>
TO
MY MOTHER AND FOSTER-MOTHER
(SCOTLAND AND NEW ZEALAND),
THIS VOLUME.
IN ALL LOVE AND GRATIT(n)E,
1 DEDICATE.
PREFACE.
T^HE contents of this volume, with the exception of
about a score of pieces now published for the
first time, are selected from a mass of verses which have
hitherto led a '• vagabond existence," of, in some cases,
thirty years' duration, in newspapers and magazines, or
in "brochures" of limited circulation among private
friends. It is for the reading public to determine whether
their publication in collected form shall prove an act of
sepulture or of introduction to a larger and more influ-
ential life. It has been deemed advisable to append to
each poem the date at which it was written. A glance
by the reader at these dates may make it unnecessary for
the author to explain seeming inconsistencies or to
apologise for crudities of idea and expression. The
dates will also prove useful to those who may wish to
study the collection as a "human document" and to
trace the evolutionary stages of the writer's mental, senti-
mental, literary, religious, and philosophic experiences.
Without seeking or hoping to modify censure, the
author would remark that these verses have been written
in the brief intervals of a busy journalistic life, partly as
a recreation, but chiefly because he was persuaded he had
a message to deliver and desired to express himself in
a form at once forcible and attractive. The joy of com-
posing and the satisfaction of unburdening himself of his
vi. Prefcice.
message are reward enough for the " maker," who has an
abiding faith that, whether critics praise or blame, his
work shall not fail of its object.
The publications in which many of these verses first
saw the light include the Airdiie unci Coatbridge Advertiser,
Glasgow Weekly Herald, People's Friend (Dundee), Bulletin
(Sydney), Neh' Zealand Mail, New Zealand Herald, Auckland
Star, Observer, Neiv Zealand Hlustrated Magazine, and Young
Man's Magazine. Acknowledgment is due to the pro-
prietors of the Bulletin for permission to publish poems
of which the}- hold the copyright, and which are marked
by an asterisk (*) in the table of contents.
J. L. K.
s.\i amanca koau,
Wellington,
New Zealand, Deccmbei. 1902.
CONTENTS.
The poems not being classified in the- body of the wotk, a
very Jidl method of classification has been adopted in the table of
contents, in carrying out which it sometimes happens that the
title of one pncm appears under tivo separate headings.
HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE
POEMS.
" I still had hopes . . .
Around my fire an eveninj; group to draw.
And tell of all I felt and all I saw."
— Goldsmith.
AlRDRlt
An Aprjl Day
A Nation's Birth (Waitangi, 29th January, 1840)
.\postrophe to auckland
At Sea
Autumn at Cairnhill ....
Barbarossa (From the German)
"Bouts Rimes" — Sunrise in the Tropics
Cairnhill — A Fragment of Autobiography
England Under Elizabeth (From the French)
Halcyon Days in Maoriland .
In Maoriland (Sonnet) ....
J..OVELY RaROTONGA
New Zealand — Past, Present, and Future
Old New Zealand .....
Tahiti, the Land of Love and Beauty
Tarawera ; or, the Curse of Tuhotu .
The Auckland Fire Brigade .
The Brook
The Grenadiers (From the German)
P.'VOE
144
251
46
20
18
119
246
143
149
148
35
74
140
264
I
243
200
207
Vlll.
Contents.
The King of Morocco ....
The Lost Tribe (Sonnet)
The Maori Question — Debit and Credit
The Moa
TuTANEKAi (Two Sonnets) ....
66
244
90
88
149
POEMS OF PURPOSE, PHILOSOPHY,
AND RELIGION.
" Life is real, Life is earnest,
And the grave is not its goal."
A Dream of Perfect Beauty
A Prayer — To the Unknown God
•*A Rosy Philosophy .
*A Surmise
*At Mount Magdala
Birds of Passage
* Birth and Death
Boyhood ....
CiRCEAN Types (Sonnet)
Exodus ....
Finitude ....
Five-and-Twenty (Sonnet)
*FoR THE Kingdom of Heaven's S
"Freedom — A Hill-top Hymn of t
Heredity (Sonnet)
Immortality (Sonnet)
Inconstancy (From the German)
In the Gloaming
In the Yellow Leaf
*Last of All, the Woman
Life's Cycle (From the German)
May — A Plea for the Minor Poet
Missions to the Heathen
Nature or God
Nirvana
AKE (Sonnet)
he New Gospe
37
60
25
70
196
249
80
226
241
43
II
34
39
15
35
35
129
95
39
48
112
41
263
49
84
Contents.
IX.
Ode — Gleams of the After-state
•Quatrains
*Re-incarnation ....
*Renunciation (Sonnet)
Scraps of Wisdom (From the German)
Success in Art (From the German)
The Christian Philosopher's A. B.C.
The Crisis — Peace or War
The D.wvn of Brotherhood
The Gift of the Darkness
The Gift of the Roses
The Golden Age
The Making of God
The New Gospel (Sonnet)
The Pilgri.mage to Kevlaar (From the
The Poets .....
The Poet's Creed ....
The Poet's Mission ....
*The Soldier
The Triumph of Faith
The True Conqueror (From the German)
The Voice of Nature
Thought
Under the Juniper Tree (Sonnet)
With the Dead
German)
PAGE
12
57
46
86
153
125
67
176
28
93
72
64
106
159
205
131
44
225
260
126
X12
195
83
146
"3
POEMS FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS.
" .\ word in season, how good it is."
-King Solomon.
A.my Sherwin — A Welcome and Farewell .
A Toast (From the German) ....
Christmas Cards —
Antipodes ......
Heart Union ......
Maori to Pakeha ......
The Christmas Message ....
Father Christmas to the Goose .
250
256
230
230
230
230
231
X.
Contents.
Christmas Poems: —
A Dream of Universal Brotherhood
Australia Federata ....
The Watch for Christ
Colonel Whitmore's Knighthood .
Heine (After reading his " Bnch der Lieder "
Janet Hamilton .....
Ode for the Coronation of Edward VH.
Ode for the Centenary of the Death of Burns
Ode — The Shearing Poet ....
On Reading a Poem, "Farewell to Love"
Prologue to "Britannia and Her Daughters"
Queen Victoria's Jubilee ....
Sonnets to a Sonnetteer (William Gay) —
1. A Swan Song.
2. Vita Brevis ....
3. With the Immortals
St. Patrick's Day in Auckland
Sweet Star of Peace
Tangi (From the Maori)
The Bonnie Braes o' Blantvre (Song on the Death
of Dr. Livingstone)
The Passing of the Poet
The Unwritten Poem
"Who is the Greatest?"
" Y.M.C.A. •
PAGE
I 10
89
104
224
172
6i
163
100
6S
19S
123
160
121
121
122
231
252
152
54
27
77
51
204
SONGS.
' Here will we sit and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears."
— Shakespeare.
A Modest Little Maiden
Aubade (From the French)
Barcarolle (From the French)
Hate and Love
Heather and Fern .
" John O'Gradv " Up-to-date ,
202
32
157
iii
143
Contents.
XI.
Lost Love .......
Love (From the French) ....
Lovely G.^brielle (From the French)
-Marry or Burn .....
My Lover From the Sea
O, Wenn es doch ImiMEr so Bliebe
Song (From the Spanish) ....
The Bonnie Braes o' Blantvre
The Chimes of Wellington
The Grandfather's Song (From the French)
The Language of Love ....
The Old Identity .....
The Phantom Canoe ....
The Stream and thf. Lily
The Trysting ......
To a Lovely Gnu. (From the German) .
Tristan's Song (From the Danish) .
When Ladies Pop the Question
ZuLEiKA (From the German)
PAGE
217
223
148
122
54
24
201
162
109
130
138
99
238
94
69
202
QUATRAINS.
' Hark al the lips of this pink whorl of shell
And you shall hear the ocean's surge and roar ;
So, in the Quatrain's measure, written well,
A thousand lines shall all be sung in four ! "
— Frank Dempster Sherviaii.
Appeal to Science .
59
Compensations .
58
Contradictions .
58
Death
60
Earth-life .
59
Fatalistic Comfort .
59
Labour
57
Life
60
Luxury
57
More Licht
58
xn.
Contents.
Other-life
Politics
RONTGEN
Spirit
The Christian's Answer
The Jew's Solution
The New Woman
The Revealer .
The Wide, Wide World
Threk Problems
I'/VGE
56
58
58
60
59
59
58
60
58
59
HUMOROUS AND SATIRICAL POEMS.
" A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men.'
—Old Rhyme.
Alexander (From the German)
A Modest Little Maiden
A Spiritualistic Seance ....
Barney Flynn at the Burns Club —
A Discussion of National Characteristics
Changing the Folly (From the French)
Good Advice (From the German)
''In China ....
"John O'Grady " Up-to-date
Love and Time
Lyra Mundi
Married versus Single
Marry or Burn
St. Patrick's Day in Auckland
*The Anglo-Murkan National A.nthem
The Cat — A Tale for the Maeines
The Duck (From the German) .
The Greatest Man (From the German)
The Old Identity ....
The Platypus .....
The Saga of Sir John : The Parihaka Kaid
256
135
239
166
150
151
55
143
171
247
240
223
^31
17
253
203
204
log
^37
235
Contents.
xui.
The Song of the Ship
The Turks (From the German)
To Father Christmas
Water ; or, the Teetotaller at Sea
What's in a Name ? .
What is Troth ? (Epigram)
When Ladies Pop the Question
PAGE
228
151
257
233
117
220
69
POEMS OF THE FANCY AND
IMAGINATION.
"The light that never was on sea or shore,
The consecration and the Poet's dream."
— IVo) dsworth.
Blackbirds at Caldervale ....
71
Clouds
103
Dreams
79
Heine , " .
172
In the P.\kk at Sunrise
81
Jane
133
•Nirgendswo
33
•Realisation
83
The Midnight Review (From the German)
245
The Phantom Canoe (Song) ....
130
The Taniwha
98
The Voyage ; An Allegory ....
. 158
With the Eyes Shut
96
BALLAD.
â– ' Ballads are narrative in substance, they are lyrical in
form, and they are traditional in orign."
— British Quarterly Review.
The Ballad of Ellinor
208
XIV.
Contents.
SONGS AND POEMS OF LOVE.
" For Love would still be lord of all."
Scott.
After the Tenth Ode of Anacreon
AuBADE (From the French)
Barcarolle (From the French)
Disillusion (Sonnet) .
Hate and Love (Song)
Hate, the Usurper (Sonnet)
*Hymn to Eros ....
"Lightly come, Lightly Go"
Lost Love (Song)
Love and Time
Love Gems fro.m Germany (In EngUsh Setting)
*Love, in three Aspects (From the German)
Love (From the French)
Love (From the German)
Love Lyrics (From the German of Heine)
Love, the Conqueror
Love, the Insurgent
Love, the Inventor ....
Lovely Gabrielle (From the French)
Love's Golde:^ Age ....
Love's Gulf-stream ....
*Maid Margaret ....
My Lover from the Sea (Song)
On Reading "Farewell to Love"
O, Wenn es Doch Immer so Bliebe (From the
German) ....
Song (From the Spanish)
The Language of Love (Song)
The Maidens Danced before the Ki\g
The Stream and the Lily (Song) .
The Trysting
*To A General Lover ...
To Maggie ....
Tristan's Song (From the Danish)
I'AGE
202
32
244
194
30
92
139
171
136
92
134
179
120
221
86
217
147
97
22
258
198
122
162
218
138
99
227
199
94
Contents.
XV.
TuTANEKAi (Two Sonncts) .
What is Love ? (From the German)
Youthful Lovk
ZuLEiKA (From the (German)
I'AGE
149
94
130
202
POEMS IN DIALECT.
Whyles croonin' owrc some auld Scots sonnet."
— Bintis.
Barcarolle (From the French)
Barney Flynn at the Burns Club
Cairnhili
Love (From the French)
St. Patrick's Day in Auckland
The Bonnie Braes o' Blantvre
32
166
155
138
231
54
ODES.
" The heart in Elegies forms the Discourse ;
The Ode is bolder, and has greater force.'"
Dryden.
Centenary of the Death of Burns . . . 100
Coronation of Fdward VIL ..... 163
Gleams of the After-state 12
The Shearing Poet 68
SONNETS.
■• Scorn not the Sonnet,. Critic ; You hiive frowned.
Mindless of its just honours. With this key
Shakespeare unlocked his heart."
— Woiiis'.voith.
CiRCE\N Types (Two) 241
Disillusion 244
FiVE-AND-TWENTY ....... 34
*For the Kingdom of Heaven's Sake . 39
XVI.
Contents.
PAGK
Hate, the Usurper ....... 194
Heredity
35
Immortality
35
In Maoriland ....
148
*Renunciation ....
86
Sonnets to a Sonnetteer (Three)
121
The Lost Tribe
244
The New Gospel
159
Tutanekai (Two)
149
Under the Juniper Tree
146
NOTES.
When found, make a note of."
—Capt. Cuttle.
Notes to the Poems
275
',iT-; ;â– >... -<sr=
Heather amd Perm
^
TARAWERA; OR, THE CURSE OF
TUHOTU.
I.
TUHOTUS RESURRECTION.
Scenes of horror, sounds of wailing.
Wild confusion , woe, and dread ;
Earth abysmal, yawning, rocking ;
Flames and smoke in heaven o'crhead.
Mountains reeling, thunders pealing.
Mixed with roarings from below ;
Lightnings flashing, tempests crashing.
Surges dashing to o'erflow !
Tarawera's triple mountain
Bellowing, belching balls of fire,
Streams of lava, showers of ashes.
Smoke from Nature's funeral pyre!
Children, women, men in terror,
Fleeing, shrieking, seeking aid ;
Others stricken helpless, lifeless —
On a fiery bier low laid.
Starving cattle, seeking vainly
Leaf of tree or blade of grass ;
Such the scene at fair Wairoa
(Fair no longer now, alas !)
J. L. Kelly s Poems.
When we rescued from his ivhare,
'Whelmed in fiery lava's tide,
Old Tuhotu, as he crouched there,
With his Bible by his side !
Old Tuhotu, famed tohunga —
Priest and prophet — wooed, yet feared,
With the snows of five-score winters
Gleaming on his head and beard !
Strangely stared he when he saw us,
Yet not vacant was his look ;
Words of prayer we heard him mutter,
Firmly clasping still the Book.
" Hasten ! " cried we. " Fire-bolts threaten ;
Flee for safety while you may ! "
" Nay," he answered, " leave me, leave me ;
God is angry ; I would pray ! "
Forth we dragged him, still resisting.
From his four days' vigil lone —
Four days buried, darkling, fasting,
'Neath a drift of mud and stone !
Him we brought to Rotorua —
Rescued from a living tomb —
'Mid a rain of fiery ashes,
Earthquake shocks, and sounds of doom !
Tall of stature, grave of feature, —
Graver, sadder, seemed he now ;
Marks of lonely, long communing
Sat upon his stately brow.
Quailed the Maoris at his glances,
Trembling, fled they from his sight.
Crying " Wizard ! Wherefore come you
Back from realms of Death and Night ?
" See your doing ! Fire and ruin.
Buried village, pasture burned !
Is your vengeance not yet sated.
That to curse us you've returned ? "
Gently tended we Tuhotu,
Rest and viands bade him take,
Then, in answer to our questions,
Slowly, sadly thus he spake:
Tavawera : oy, The Curse of Tiihotn. 3
II.
TUHOTU MADE A PAKEHA.
Why have ye brought me hither ? Why did ve break
my trance,
When I commune held with spirits on Reinga's shadowy
shore ?
You say 'twas the Atiui led you, — there is no such thing
as chance.
Good ! 'Tis the will of the Father: I will complain no
more !
Sad is my heart for my people, o'ertaken by fiery fate;
Sadder still for the living, whose souls refuse the light,
Who curse me, revile me, disown me, and thrust me forth
from their gate.
As a foul and fell magician, in league with the Powers
of Night.
Outcast, despised, and friendless, why should I live alone ?
Sure 'tis the curse of Knowledge, — but a wise man
should be brave ;
And Christ, earth's greatest Prophet, was hated and killed
by His own.
But He rose, like me. in triumph, from darkness and
the grave !
Yes ; 'tis the curse of Knowledge ! — to know of impending
wrath,
To see o'er a sinful people uplifted the hand of God,
To know that, despite all warning, not one will forsake the
path
Till all shall be crushed to powder beneath the avenging
rod !
Wizard, the people call me ; they would kill me did they
dare —
But they said He had a devil when Love was His golden
rule . .
Should I not deem it an honour His deep dishonour to
share ? . . .
Only the wise know wisdom, 'tis folly alone to the fool \
Fools! To believe that I willed it, when I warned them of
coming doom !
'Tis well that they ha\e disowned me ; a takcha hence
forth I.
The/a/teAa's God was with me as I lay in my living tomb.
And He sent you to my rescue that I might not in
darkness die.
4 J- J^' Kelly s Poems.
Gone are the people to judgment ; of their blood my hands
are clean ;
1 will leave them to God's great mercy, and dry my
useless tears.
Let me tell you the vision I saw of the awful final scene,
And the warning I long since uttered in vain to idle ears.
III.
THE CURSE.
Woe to the seekers of pleasure !
Woe to the Maori race !
Woe to this time and place !
For filled is the wrathful measure,
And A'engeance cometh apace;
Only a little space,
And a man will give all his treasure
To be hid from the angry face
Of a justly-incensed God !
The earth shall quake at His nod,
And the hills dissolve in fire
Before His enkindled ire !
Woe to Wairoa the gay •
I see her at close of day,
Go like a child to sleep ;
I see her, ere morning breaks,
Wake, as a madman wakes
From a dream of the nethermost deep !
The earth is rent asunder.
The heavens are black as a pall ;
The bright flames rise and fall ;
Deep rumblings come from under,
While high in air,
'Mid the lightning's glare.
Bellows the angry thunder !
Wairoa is gone — is fled- —
The wicked ones all are dead !
Woe to Ariki the proud I
Humbled shall be her pride.
She smiles on the fair hillside ;
But I see the gathering cloud —
I hear the mutterings loud.
O God ! the cloud has burst !
In a rain of living fire
I see Ariki expire,
By sloth and sin accurst !
Tarawera : or, The Cupse of Tiihotu.
Woe unto Moura, woe !
She is dreaming of peace and rest,
Like a bird in its quiet nest,
Wriile the blue lake lies below.
Her sons to folly wander ;
The stranger's gold they claim ;
To the stranger's vice they pander —
They sell her daughters' shame !
God stamps His foot in anger.
The earth's foundations shake :
For Moura weep,
She lieth deep
In Tarawera's lake !
Waitangi, thy waters of wailing
Are lamenting, unavailing,
Too late to avert thy doom !
Too late doth thy conscience waken.
For, in sin and shame o'ertaken,
Thy glory shall sink in gloom !
IVIourn, ye weeping waters,
The fate of your sons and daughters
Who sleep in a nameless tomb !
Deep and eternal shame,
Bitter and endless woe,
To each tribe of ancient name !
They shall perish in vengeful flame.
And sink to the realm of Po !
Weep, Ngatitoi, Tuhourangi,
Weep for Wairoa, Waitangi,
Ariki, and Moura the fair ;
They have drunk of the wine of Pleasure,
And now they must drain a measure
Of Sorrov,- and dire Despair ;
They have heard with scoffs and scorning
The voice of solemn warning ;
God striketh, and will not spare !
IV.
SUPERSTITION AND RELIGION.
He ended, and sudden a murmur
Arose in the street without ;
The murmur grew to a tumult ;
From the tumult there came the shout
J. L. Kelly's Poms.
Of a hundred angry voices,
Joined in one vengeful cry —
" Death to the hated wizard
Who has made our people die!
" Death to the fierce Tuhotu
Who has stirred up Maui's ire,
And 'whelmed our homes and pastures
In a flood of sacred fire —
The fire from Hawaiiki,
Brought to our chief of old,
Great Ngatoioirangi,
When perishing with cold !
"The fire that came as a blessing,
Tuhotu has made a curse ;
He is fit to live no longer,
His wicked plans to nurse !
Many have died and suffered
By the spell of his evil eye ;
We appeal to the law of Moses,
Which says that he must die !
"Give us the grey old wizard
Who has wrought us so much ill;
No mortal man may harm him —
No human hand may kill ;
But we'll bear him to Tarawera ;
He must enter the pit of fire,
And appease the unquiet spirits
Whom he roused to vengeance dire !
Then we heard in gentle accents,
A voice persuasive speak.
Telling that God's was vengeance,
And the earth was for the meek ;
That One who was greater than Moses
A better law had given —
To forgive an erring brother
To seventy times seven !
And the Maoris, as they listened
To the missionary priest.
Were shamed from their wild intention,
And the angry tumult ceased. . .
And Tuhotu, who ne'er had trembled.
Or quailed his fearless glance,
Told of the Vision of ruin
He saw in his four days' trance.
Tarawera : or, The Curse of Tuhotn.
V.
TUHOTUS VISION.
The night had fallen soft and calm,
Wairoa lay in slumber deep :
I sang in peace my evening psalm,
But something said I must not sleep.
Wrapped in my rug, I sat and read
From Jeremiah's warning page,
Nor knew the midnight hour had fled.
So closely did the theme engage.
O'er Israel's pictured woes I wept,
And sadness o'er my soul held sway,
And yearning feelings o'er me crept,
For brethren in this later day ;
I know not if I waked or slept—
If hours or moments passed away !
The spirits of the mighty dead
Who sleep on Tarawera hill,
Innumerous, hovered round my head;
I knew their presence boded ill !
But One was by my side who said
To my heart-throbbings — " Peace, be still !'
I felt this visit was the sign
Of trouble in these sinful years ;
But, in an ecstacy divine,
I soon forgot earth's cares and fears.
Communing with my visitants,
No more my fearful bosom pants;
My eyes are tipped with heavenly light
And clear as day appears the night.
" Come forth with us," the Spirits say.
And in spirit I haste with them away !
Out 'neath the clear and star-lit sky.
With the villages slumbering peacefully
On the marge of Tarawera Lake,
Our way through the pure mid air we take
With one consent we stay our flight
And gaze, as from a mountain height,
Down on Mahana's steaming flood,
Near that enchanted spot where stood
8 J. L. Kelly s Poems.
Those terraced pathways to the sky —
Twin stairways that the gods might mount-
Te Kupuarangi's cloudy fount,
Tarata's pure white tracery !
Mahana's Lake, this night of June,
Lies placid 'neath the crescent moon.
Save in the central part, where sleeps
The taniii'ha, in troubled dreams,
And, ever restless turning, seems
To agitate the boiling deeps !
See, how he tosses and tumbles.
Hark, how he mutters and grumbles.
And shakes his clanking chain !
Wild is the dream he is dreaming,
For the lake is boiling and steaming
And hissing and spitting amain !
A fiercer struggle and stronger !
His bonds contain him no longer ;
From his dream the monster wakes —