37 . From ‘An Austral River’

AH, have you seen Aoranghi rise,

His white cloud-robes unrolled,

And lift his prayer to sapphire skies

Gleamed through with pearl and gold,

And Tasman’s river, strong and fleet,

Through timeless nights and days,

Chanting for ever at his feet

The thunder of his praise?

Oh, in the splendour and the light,—

The strength, the grace, the gleam,—

Heaven’s gate seems lifting clear in sight,

And God’s face not a dream!

In that white world without a stain

I saw the new Day break,

And then gaze, spell-bound, once again

On peak and sleeping lake.

I heard the avalanche crashing by;

And, while my heart stood still,

The glad wild tumult of reply

Pulsed back from fiord and hill.

Then, in the still voice Silence brings

When storms cease, soft and low

I heard God’s secret whisperings

Fall round me on the snow.

And never more, by eve or morn

Where Beauty is arrayed,

Shall you count Dom and Matterhorn

The fairest God has made!