THE OLD
TOTARA TREE .
I
strolled along the other evening,
As the
sun set in the west,
Amongst
the grass and bushes,
Where the
wild bird builds her nest,
I kept
along the rocky path,
Where all
things seemed so still,
Till I
stood beside the rugged trunk
Of yonder
tree upon the hill.
In
boyhood's years I'd known it well,
For on
each summer day,
Beneath
its shady boughs,
We'd
gather there to play.
Up the
rocky hillside,
And down
by the rippling creek,
Amongst the grass and flakes
We'd play
at hide-and-seek.
Along the
stony ledges
And
through the leafy bowers
We'd find
the wild birds' nests,
High up,
'mid the clematis flowers.
But those
glories, all are o'er.
My
comrades now lie still;
We'll
play no more at hide-and-seek
'Neath
that old tree upon the- hill.
For Time,
with its sudden changes,
Has
altered all since then,
And
beneath that shady tree
We'll
never meet again.
Now often
in my dreams I see those comrades still,
But when daylight comes
That tree
alone remains upon the hill.
And may
it flourish there for ever,
While the
sun sets in the west,
Till the
sorrowing cease from sorrowing
And the
weary sink to rest.
T. F. Gallagher.
Kakanui, March, 1906.
- Sourced
Otago Daily Witness 21
March 1906
