New Zealand Verse/Morning

XXXI.

Morning.

Morning passes, never ceases,
Day-break laughs on earth for ever.

Now is the hour of the morning’s prime,—
List to the voices;—sea-sprites hymning!
Wispy clouds from the sea-haze climb,
Rosy gulls in the gold sea swimming:
  Waves defying Time’s ageing hand
   Dance to the gleaming sand.

Now is the hour of the morning’s prime,—
Earth lies laughing and Heaven bends over
Bees are a-hum in the banks of thyme,
Bees are a-drone in the fields of clover:
  Poppies and cornflowers gem the corn,
   And a new world smiles, dew-born.

Now is the hour of the morning’s prime,—
Ho,— the revel of rival thrushes!
That’s a blackbird hid in the lime,
Clearly the lark’s lay fills the hushes:
  Silver hazes and cloud-wefts sever,—
   And such morns break for ever.

Johannes C. Andersen.