4 AUGUST 1900, Page 17

POETRY.

ISOLATION.

THE moon is large, the heavens are clear:

Above the trees that crown the height Two stars are shining, two so near, It seems their shimmering rays unite.

But she who holds the master-key Of knowledge looks with smiling face. "Between those gleaming sparks you see Are stretched the myriad miles of space."

I turn unto the close-at-hand, The world where distance cheats us not ; How close her thronging peoples stand, All brethren of a common lot.

Nay, the immeasurable sea

Wherein the shining planets roil Is small to that immensity

Encircling every human soul.

Grieve not that man must stand apart, Whose lonely spirit, he shall find, Is closer to the Eternal Heart Than to the nearest of his kind.

B. PAUL NEUSLA.N.