The three Islands

Thomas Kibble Hervey

Here lifts New Zealand, mid a sea of storms,   
Her hills that threaten heaven like Titan forms,—   
Where the long lizard on the herbage lies,   
And clouds of emerald beauty paint the skies;   
Where the dark savage courts the burning noon,           
And counts his epochs by the hundredth moon!   
And yonder, redolent with fruits and flowers,   
With spicy gales and aromatic showers,   
And shady palms that into mid-air run,   
To meet the wingéd creatures of the sun,           
Fair Papua calls upon the mourning muse   
To pause and weep above the lost Pérouse!   
But vain her wailing, as the toil was vain   
That sought this second Hylas o’er the main!   
Eastward she turns, where many an island smiles,           
Each like a chief amid its vassal isles,   
Where lie the lands so often lost and found,   
And where, so long in circling silence bound,   
New Caledonia sits upon the seas   
That roll their waves amid the Cyclades!


Main Location:

New Zealand