21 OCTOBER 1922, Page 38

POETRY.

LOVER'S REPLY TO GOOD ADVICE.

Cowin you 'bid an acorn When in earth it heaves 'On Time's 'backward wing be 'borne

To -forgotten leaves :

Could you quiet Noah's Flood To an essence rare, Or bid the roaring wind Confine in his lair : Could round iron shell When the spark was in it Hold powder so well That it never split Had you reins for the sun, And curb, and spur, Held you God in a net So He might not stir : Then might you take this thing, Then strangle it, kill !

By weighing, considering, Conform it to will!

Like Christ's Self contemn it, Revile, mock, betray : But being Seed—Wind—God-

It bears all away 1 RICHARD IILTG Hrs.