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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 12, Issue 7 (October 1, 1937.)

Illusion

Illusion.

The living colour of foliage, green on green, almond on moss and jade jewelled against deep bronze with here and there dashes of brilliant emerald. A bank of rangiora creamy with blossom, guarded by slim lace bark trees. Underfoot a wide sloping ledge of sun-splashed sward.

I move nearer.

The grassy turf gently sloped to the edge of a pool. The water was still but for tiny ripples where frogs might have been. Sunlight caught these movements in the water with a golden light and each stood out, shining, from the lacquered surface of, the pool.

The bush was still. The birds seemed drowsy in the noon-day heat.

Quietly I stepped even nearer.

A glimpse of scarlet had caught my eye. Looking more closely I saw what it was.

Under a group of tree ferns to the right of the pool, lay a girl with arms out-spread. One hand lay curled upwards towards the sky. Her head was turned away. I moved closer but she did not stir. The scarlet of her bathing suit gleamed amid the green of trees and grass. She was asleep. I walked away feeling I must not disturb her.

Once I looked back and all the colours seemed to leap before me.

The pool, black with gilded lines; the high granite wall clustered with brilliant greens which tumbled in verdant profusion to the mossy bank below, where lay the girl, still sleeping, a tiny glow of vivid scarlet.

Slowly I turned listening even then for the calls of tui or bellbird.

Swinging back the great door I stepped out into the street. I had just seen the picture declared by the critics as the most outstanding of those exhibited in that year's academy.—Gwen Harrison.