THE ROCK-BORN STREAM
I WALKED upon the marram grass . Between the sea and land Where as a boy, with bursting heart, I used to stride and stand -And watch the caverned breakers That thundered close at hand. The wind came sudden from the west, A steady wind and cold That sang, "What young you fumbled at How shall you learn when old?" Crisp leaves of the hill garden Where once I used to go Fell down and touched my shoulder More lightly than the snow; Venus that ardent planet shone As she did years ago. A voice ran in the branches, "How shall your coarsened heart And ageing body find again The grove of love and art?" Outside a crowded coffee-shop In the centre of the town A sailor who’d been on the grog Touched me for half-a-crown. I hoped that he would find a place That evening to lie down. And no voice sprang to question me, Only the rock-born stream That rises out of silence And will to silence come. at
James K.
Baxter
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570712.2.43
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 935, 12 July 1957, Page 25
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176THE ROCK-BORN STREAM New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 935, 12 July 1957, Page 25
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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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