Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 24, No. 15. 1961.
Afternoon off
Afternoon off
From the top, windy and watery Stretched down towards the distant sea
Grass and gorse wet beneath Spring showers, are sprinkled with yellow blossoms
Then yellow patches down towards the sea.
On the other side, the side just mounted
Lay sprawling, dirty wet City
Wet washing, wet streets and wet persons
Running, hurrying, bustling and looking
For what they are not,
Or avoiding what they really are, In jobs ill-suited, with wives ill-mated
And children merely created;
All adding-up to civilised living in the comfort of man-made objects.
Now descending into this new country
Sheep on either side clinging to the gullies,
Or fattening on the knobs and spurs,
The couple in a car speed towards their destination;
A not-too-private, natural nook
At the end of some farm road
Unsealed, muddy and surrounded By green hills, within sight of farm buildings,
Close enough to hear the dogs.
The movement and the feel of love between them
The kisses that melted the heart
And the heart which forgets its hates and jealousies.
Entwined in a mood of wistfulness,
Is surrounded by just the signs of necessary life;
And the four hours lost from work
Are four hours spent in eternal occupation.
Nitram.