Tales of Banks Peninsula/Part 2/Akaroa
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,
Rest a thousand songsters, singing
Hymns of rapture ere they fly;
Where are giant willows[6] growing,
From Napoleon’s distant grave;
Where are creeks for ever flowing,
Giving verdure as they lave;
Where do sunclad wavelets wander
To Zealandia’s fairest shore,
In embracing, growing fonder?
’Tis in lovely Akaroa.
III.
Where do sunsets’ rays of glory,
Gold and purple raiment, throw
O’er the hills[7] renowned in story
In the Maori long ago;
Where does wild clematis,[8] flinging
Tendrils o’er the boughs below,
Cover sprays, where birds are singing,
With a cloak of purest snow;
Where, in wild, sequestered valley,
Grows the wondrous nikau[9] palm,
Forming ever verdant alley,
Where there is eternal calm;
Where are silver fern-trees[10] spreading
Fairy fronds of beauty pure,
Aromatic fragrance shedding?
’Tis in lovely Akaroa.
IV.
Where, when storms are raging madly,
’Neath the bitter tempest’s blast,
Does the sailor enter gladly,
Finding peaceful seas at last;
Where does the titoki’s[11] glory
Blaze with scarlet many a glade,
Sheltered from nor’-wester’s[12] fury
By the pine tree’s[13] tasselled shade;
Where are feet for ever pressing
Wondrous ferns[14] of beauty rare,
Robed in Nature’s choicest dressing,
Ever fresh and passing fair;
Where, when from the world we sever,
Seeking peace for evermore,
Should we choose to rest for ever?
’Tis in lovely Akaroa.
Silas Wegg.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ The weeping willows growing in Akaroa are all said to have sprung from a slip brought by a Frenchman from Napoleon’s tomb at St. Helena. They are of enormous size.
- ↑ The hills around Akaroa were the scenes of many a renowned Maori conflict.
- ↑ The wild clematis, with snowy blossoms fully a foot in circumference, is of marvellous beauty.
- ↑ The nikau palm grows only in the most sequestered and sheltered valleys.
- ↑ The silver fern-tree’s fronds are a brilliant green above, and pure silver underneath.
- ↑ The titoki is the native ash. It bears masses of scarlet berries like gigantic raspberries.
- ↑ The nor’-westers are hot winds in Akaroa, and wither vegetation.
- ↑ The native bush consisted originally principally of gigantic pines.
- ↑ The ferns in Akaroa are of marvellous variety and beauty.