Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/302
Peninsula Stories in Verse.
Akaroa.
I.
Where do sunbeams brightest glisten,
’Mid intricacies of shade;
Where does love-lorn tui[1] listen
To its mate in leafy glade;
Where, when earliest spring is waking
From its sleep each leaflet’s fold,
Do the zephyrs, gently shaking,
Pave the kowhai’s[2] roots with gold;
Where, with melody surprising,
Does the bell-bird[3] welcome day,
Ere the golden sun, arising,
Makes the night-mists pass away;
Where do great koninis,[4] laden
With their million berries store,
Purple lips of many a maiden?
’Tis in lovely Akaroa.
II.
Where do mighty tree-clad mountains
Solemn guard the vales below,
Giving birth to many a fountain,
Where in winter lies the snow;
Where do great totaras,[5] flinging
Bronzéd foliage to the sky,
- ↑ The tui, or parson-bird, one of the honey-suckers peculiar to New Zealand.
- ↑ The kowhai is a native acacia, that in spring is covered with a profusion of golden blossoms.
- ↑ The bell-bird, or moko moko, another New Zealand honey-sucker, that always welcomes the dawn with a strangely clear and deep note, like a bell.
- ↑ The konini is the giant fuchsia of New Zealand, whose numberless purple berries are the delight of birds and children.
- ↑ The totara is a pine with golden or bronze colored foliage, of great beauty. It grows to an enormous size.