KARANGAHAKE the years of the gold 1875 -1935

The poplar trees at Mackaytown

Stand stately, grand and high,

A guard of honour proudly set

With pennants in the sky.

 

I love their winter lacey grey,

Their summer towers of green,

And golden prodigality

Enriching autumn's scene.

 

What visionary planned this view

In pioneering day?

Who laboured then that we might see

Magnificent array?

 

Since saplings first stood sentinel,

Along the ribbon road,

How changed the life of Mackaytown,

How fortunes ebbed and flowed.

 

But grandeur there will always be

So long as poplars last,

With branches reaching for the sky,

And roots deep in the past.

N.S.C.