POEM AT THE BUS DEPOT
ERE at the depot where bus-engines grumble, shaking the glass of .timetables, and we wait, out of our depth in latesummer waves of héat; even here where the moments melt between us until it will be time to go, F I catch one cringing breath of Autumn stirring like a mouse in gutters of thirsty dust, and know that here is the first snapped strand in a heat-haze fabric woven of burning suns, first seed of a blight that will clatter leaves over dismal pavements, leave windows streaming as the Autumn bus departs. Here at the depot where I wade in tides of love, feeling the warm minutes melting behind your éyes, the moments pinned on smiles; even here where my words are a fabric of hope, I catch one falling glance like. the shadow of a single cloud on sunlit hills, and know that here the first thread breaks within the Summer mind, that pavements of hope find dismal ends with time, streaming to, the eyes of a later season's rain as your bus departs. What kills is this knowledge of change, the measure of loss in timetabled, nervous hours, Aes. Se) Cee
ana ine geometrical saaows O1 an ordered day
C. K.
Stead
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540402.2.19
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 767, 2 April 1954, Page 10
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210POEM AT THE BUS DEPOT New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 767, 2 April 1954, Page 10
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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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