The Debutante
Y heart is throbbing with a thousand loves, For all the lovely things this world can showThe giddy dance of all that in it moves, The whirling to and fro; The ceaseless rhythm of the heated blood Within my veins, that like a rising flood Gives promise of destruction and delight In its headlong flight, LOVE the movement of exulting throngs That flit and flutter in a coloured world; I love the constant beat of common songs From bursting hearts out-hurled, I love the stamp of feet, the waving arms, The laughter tearing through the burdened air : In some gay dance-hall, broken by alarms And _semi-frights-a_ passing fit of " scare of The bubbling liquor and the ready witOh! Oh! the joy of it. ‘ H O there, the orchestra! Fiddles and drums, Cymbals and clanging horns, keep to the beat! Lo, there the debutante! See where she comes With her rhythm-drunken feet! Play up the saxophones, whistle and blare, Give her the welcome she’s looking for there. You at the piano! Talk with your hands As her spirit demands! | BATHE in ecstasy! My head is light! Passion is on the prowl! I feel his breath About my ears like a winnowing blight That whispers "death." O lovely death in life! I wait you here Amidst the joys of laughter and hot cheer. Here at the very peak of the adyenture I Could lay me down and die, M Y sight is failing, weary grow the feet; Soft languor wraps me in a thousand ‘Ss; The moonlight beckons and the night is sweetI sink within his arms! The distant music of the blaring band Still reaches me, as in his searching hand I place my own and quaff the proferred , Cup, And drink the poison up.
H. E.
Gunter
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19410815.2.67
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 112, 15 August 1941, Page 42
Word count
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299The Debutante New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 112, 15 August 1941, Page 42
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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