FROM NOON TO EVE.

New Zealand Tablet, 18 November 1920, Page 37

FROM NOON TO EVE.

£°w ! a ! arfc,S I be , at , the. Day stood breathless, 4nd n vm lg +i roo f ed h f fingGr ’ and murmured “Come” And yet in the dance lie turned lo where Noon burned In a glitter of green, cruel and gay • And where along the river brim"" ’ The shadow shrank because of him And his slug vassal of molten steel. But Night cried “Come”! And through, about, beneath His opulent tresses blew with her soft breath; And he, with quickening feet, reluctant heel’ Retook the way. The wild rose dipped Her pink-white chinese-lanterns to the day Slim trees, pearl-finger-tipped, ’’ TShispered. Hid in a bush the drowsy quire Chirped note on rising note, Oh sweet! Up! up! And that high crescent of immortal fire Smoked like a funeral-pyre. And Eve came offering a full cup To her spent groom—. Oblivion for desire! Intricate magic! A soft, impalpable bloom Rested, a benediction on the grass. hat, cloudy shapes curtained by topless /room; ide-eyod, yet sleeping, 1 watched the shadows creeping. Soft, intimate, fluttering things, I saw them pass Oier the slow sweep, quick wrinkle of chameleon glass. And yet or ever the red goblin sank, And fleet wings gathered where the hot day drank, And Dusk, with delicate fingers synthesizing, Shaped firm the plastic fancies of my dream, A great white ball bulked on the bank Like a fierce dawn up-rising Out of tne comfortable darkness of the stream. —W. R. Titterton, in the New Witness.