LATE AT NIGHT, LAMBTON QUAY
ITCHED out by the cable car, and still arguing, Some stayed, overcoats agape, gesticulating on the pavement, But we came on, looking for a hot drink. Apart from the car’s bright cave there was little light; Shut shops, footsteps, echoing, fell yet in a pattern Which was the expected ending to an evening. We found, as we knew we would, a late coffee shop, Beacon, though shabby, and soiled with the day’s spilled dregs; It was the only place to go. What matter? Comfortably here, Wellington, whether visited That day was film, football match, or writers’ conferenceIt was all one shoulder-rubbing, at night anyway. Though midday might heve separated poet, tram conductor And Royal Air Force wife; out of the dark they had wandered in, Willing to belong there, and be satisfied. To take the hot drink (clatter of kitchen extraordinarily Loud at such an hour) pay at the counter; then, Shock of the off-key, askew, counterpoint That yet makes whole, gives meaning; to see Waiting while her companion brought food, the Chinese girl, Remote and beautiful, with a face like a lotus flower.
Paul
Henderson
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19591016.2.44
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 41, Issue 1051, 16 October 1959, Page 26
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191LATE AT NIGHT, LAMBTON QUAY New Zealand Listener, Volume 41, Issue 1051, 16 October 1959, Page 26
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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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