Works in the Herald 1936
SANCTUARY SCORNED

Most of the local and overseas news these days seems largely to concern war and rumors of war, national dissension, economic argument, motor accidents, murder and sudden death.

Oh, is there not one place on earth
Where man's goodwill has gone from birth
Thro' adolescence, with its rage,
Into a kindly, mellow age
   A tolerant maturity --
Mayhap some tropic coral isle
Where even man no more is vile.
If such a place be anywhere,
Ah, take me there!  Ah, take me there!
   And let me know security.

Is there no haven, heaven-bent,
Where economic argument
Falls flat; where war and talk of
Are with forgotten things of yore --
    Anachronistic oddities --
Where mankind's mental food is peace,
And bliss and brotherhood increase.
If such a place be anywhere,
Ah, take me there!  Ah, take me there!
   And feed me such commodities.

Where phonograph or wireless blare
Is never on the ambient air,
And calm night follows placid day
As silent seasons steal away
   Tuned to a sweet tranquillity,
Where never, 'mid the traffie's roar
Red Death claims yet one victim more --
If such a place be anywhere,
Ah, take me there!  Ah, take me there!
   I go with meek docility.

Where tender sky to placid sea
Bends down in perfect harmony;
Where mute nymphs, in a smiling bandy
Come, as I loll on silvery sand,
   And, bent upon adoring me,
Pass soothing fingers thro' my hair --
Were such a land, and were I there,
I should arise, and yawn, and say,
"Take me away!  Take me away!
   This deadly dump is boring me!"

"Den"
Herald, 2 May 1936

Copyright © Perry Middlemiss 2002