First published 1923

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, GLASGOW

TO ELIZABETH OF THE GERMAN GARDEN
WHO LOVED CERTAIN OF THESE POEMS
AND THEIR AUTHOR

CONTENTS

PAGE
Introductory Note[xi]
[POEMS: 1909–1910]
In the Rangitaki Valley[3]
Spring Wind in London[4]
Butterfly Laughter[6]
The Candle[7]
Little Brother’s Secret[8]
Little Brother’s Story[9]
The Man with the Wooden Leg[10]
When I was a Bird[11]
The Arabian Shawl[12]
Sleeping Together[13]
The Quarrel[14]
[POEMS: 1911–1913]
Loneliness[17]
The Meeting[18]
The Gulf[19]
The Storm[20]
Across the Red Sky[21]
Very Early Spring[22]
The Awakening River[23]
The Sea-Child[24]
The Earth-Child in the Grass[25]
To God the Father[26]
The Opal Dream Cave[27]
Sea[28]
Jangling Memory[29]
There was a Child once[30]
The Secret[31]
Sea Song[32]
Countrywomen[34]
Stars[35]
Deaf House Agent[36]
[POEMS AT THE VILLA PAULINE: 1916]
Villa Pauline[39]
Camomile Tea[40]
Waves[41]
The Town between the Hills[43]
Voices of the Air[45]
Sanary[46]
To L. H. B. (1894–1915)[47]
[POEMS: 1917–1919]
Night-Scented Stock[51]
Now I am a Plant, a Weed....[53]
There is a Solemn Wind To-night[54]
Out in the Garden[55]
Fairy Tale[56]
Covering Wings[57]
Firelight[59]
Sorrowing Love[60]
A Little Girl’s Prayer[61]
The Wounded Bird[62]
[CHILD VERSES: 1907]
A Fairy Tale[65]
Opposites[67]
Song of Karen, the Dancing Child[69]
A Joyful Song of Five[70]
The Candle Fairy[71]
Song by the Window before Bed[72]
A Little Boy’s Dream[73]
Winter Song[74]
On a Young Lady’s Sixth Anniversary[75]
Song of the Little White Girl[76]
A Few Rules for Beginners[77]
A Day in Bed[78]
The Lonesome Child[79]
A Fine Day[80]
Evening Song of the Thoughtful Child[81]
A New Hymn[83]
Autumn Song[84]
The Black Monkey[85]
The Pillar Box[86]
The Quarrel[87]
Grown-up Talk[88]
The Family[89]

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

In her Journal, on January 22, 1916, Katherine Mansfield told her plans as her writer to her dead brother. She wanted to pay “a sacred debt” to her country, New Zealand, because “my brother and I were born there.” “Then,” she continued, “I want to write poetry.”