I never take my hat and swing Abroad, all fancy free,But I am sure some wondrous thing Is bound to come to me:
Perhaps I"ll find the rainbow"s end Behind the tree-fern"s laceWhen I push past the farthest bend, The rain upon my face.
Or else, as I go breathless there,
I"ll lift my eyes and find
A wonder blossom, white and rare, Hung palely in the wind;Some flower with petalled depths that hide
The wild bees" burnished store-
A perfumed cup that, opened wide, No man has seen before.
Or else on beauty all intent, Just thinking anything,With eyes upon the pathway bent,
I"ll hear the grasses sing,
And see, where smoke hangs blue and thin Like mist upon the air,A white witch with a tilted chin Look sadly through her hair.
Drawn by W. S. Wemyss
"Fair, flimsy towers against an unknown sky."I never, never walk afar
Without the thought: " Tis now,
That I shall know what things there are, And whence they come and how!
And all around my dancing feet The pale dissolving dayWill melt into some magic street That threads the far-away.
And I shall see fair, flimsy towers
Against an unknown sky,
And pluck the blooms of deathless flowers, And hear faint fiddles cry.
And I shall go enraptured, dumb, Through walks that none have known,And hear a whisper: " Lo, she"s come
At last into her own !"
I never take my hat and swing Abroad, all fancy free,But I am sure some wondrous thing Is bound to come to me!
Myra Morris, in The Australasian
Author.-Miss Myra Morris is a living Melbourne writer, well known as a contributor to various periodicals. Her published works include England and Other Verses and Us Five (prose).
General Notes.-Here we have an imaginative little girl dreaming ofstrange things that might happen to her. What possible events does she imagine? Make a list of them. See if you can make up a verse telling of some wondrous thing that you sometimes think will come to you when you swing abroad, all fancy free.
Suggestions for Verse-speaking.-What two verses are the same? Whatother verse is like these? Let the whole class speak these three verses, and let each of the other verses be spoken by a different voice.