NEW WINE, OLD BOTTLES
THEY had known it all before, routine Dated as a pre-wat magazine: Tinkle of chatteg and tea-cups after the show, Confessional titBits, mutual dislikes, : Books, records, films, the radio; Wire-lifting gallantry on Saturday hikes; A blown fuse, a lost torch, First tremulous kiss on the midnight porch. They had heard it all before: accusations, The tedious halt-truths of explanations; And then the letters-white leaves Drifting through the door unseenBy autumn, fewer: their minds, like treés, Had shaken themselves clean, And they accepted as natural law, Winter wind in the heart, the closed door. But this was new: years after, When time had fractured their laughter, When blood flowed thicker in the véin, Mind, walking at her summer ease In step with heart in evergreen, Threw off her coat of freize, Danced a step or two to meet Heart’s old folly ambling up the street. And so, for convenience, they were married, (Or for companionship the neighbours said;) How could he, in the gentle guise Of respectable middle-age affection, Tie down truth with halt-lies, Hide heart’s old intention? Yet found, knocking at her door, . No answer: this, at least, was as before. -Colin Newbury
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 742, 2 October 1953, Page 11
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197NEW WINE, OLD BOTTLES New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 742, 2 October 1953, Page 11
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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.
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