HE WHO COMES BACK
At up the autumn gullies the broompods crackle dry, The woman-breasted ranges jut to a windy sky. The farmer treads on stubbl that was a field of grain: I see the old year burn to ash, nor wish it back again. Upon these roads my heart was light that is more heavy now, Here once my tather showed me Orion and the Plough. : These moments rise in memory, a whisper in the brain: The star that fell at midnight will not shine forth again. Below the cattle-crossing the calm beasts grazing stand; He who comes back with different eyes must see a different land. I lack the courage of the rock whom the waves wear in vain, The courage of an easy heart will not return again, Now in the autumn gullies the gorsefires thunder high; The choked bitd drops above them, he has no room to fly. I praise the fire that burns to ash the old year and its pain, I praise the stubborn root from which the green sprig grows again.
James K.
Boxter
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19560817.2.53
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 889, 17 August 1956, Page 27
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181HE WHO COMES BACK New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 889, 17 August 1956, Page 27
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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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