AT SEVEN A.M.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 219, 16 September 1939, Page 2

AT SEVEN A.M.

The waters of the ancient Zis were bright M'ith hues of sunset, and the changing light Touched graciously with gentle, kindly hands The lonely Berber wastes, forlorn, dim lan da That stretched away to meet a desert sky 11 here, shadow-like, a camel train lurchcd by. A band of tribesmen swept across the plain—Their steeds were satin-skinned, with filing mane And flying hooves, their saddle cloths ire re gay. And all the glory of the dying day Tinged rosily the flowing robes they wore ; The heavy ornate arms that each one bore. Inlaid with silver and uith ivory, Glittered and flashed beneath the burning sky Till colour swept. cold steel like running flame. » old, red fortress reared its battlemcn Is

Grimly agatnsr the sunset; low black tents Of nomad tribes icere grouped upon the plain, And down the wind there rang a clear icild strain Of Moorish music—gaily clad, • throng Of girls beat castanets, and cried c song Of classic rhythm in an ancievt tongue . . . • • • • . ( Waking reluctantly, I recognise The brazen clamour of the breakfast 9011 g, The storms of splashing interspersed icith song That issue from the bathroom— sunset skies Fade suddenly, date palms dissolve aicay— Cold facts confront my nevdly-opewti eyes, As. claimed at last by stern realities, I fucr the bleak morn of a icinter't day. —Katherine O'Brieri.