Page:An anthology of Australian verse (IA anthologyofaustr00stev).pdf/182

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SATURDAY NIGHT

Childhood glad in its radiance brief,Happiest-hearted or bowed with grief,Meet alike, as the stars look downWeek by week on the crowded town.
And in a kingdom of mystery,Rapt from this weariful world to seeMagic sights in the yellow glare,Breathing delight in the gas-lit air,Careless of sorrow, of grief or pain,Two by two, again and again,Strephon and Chloe together move,Walking in Arcady, land of love.
What are the meanings that burden allThese murmuring voices that rise and fall?Tragedies whispered of, secrets told,Over the baskets of bought and sold;Joyous speech of the lately wed;Broken lamentings that name the dead:Endless runes of the gossip’s rede,And gathered home with the weekly need,Kindly greetings as neighbours meetThere in the stir of the busy street.
Then is the glare of the gaslight rayGifted with potency strange to-day,Records of time-written historyFlash into sight as each face goes by.There, as the hundreds slow moving go,Each with his burden of joy or woe,

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