We sit all day, my mate and I,
With wan eyes fixed on proof and screed,
While all the world goes streaming by,
In mad procession as we read.
With wan eyes fixed on proof and screed,
Ah, who would guess the things we see
In mad procession, as we read
From morn till night, unceasingly?
Ah, who would guess the things we see!
The lives and loves of all the earth,
From morn till night, unceasingly -
Their tragedies and dreams and mirth!
The lives and loves of all the earth,
We murmur in a lifeless drone,
Their tragedies and dreams and mirth
Are tempered in a monotone.
We murmur in a lifeless drone,
The throbbing lynotypes below
Are tempered to a monotone;
The copy boys run to and fro.
The throbbing lynotypes below
With us are neither sad nor gay;
The copy boys run to and fro,
My mate and I no haste display.
With us are neither sad nor gay
The deeds of men and clowns and kings;
My mate and I no haste display
Though the world laughs or weeps or sings.
The deeds of men and clowns and kings
(Through dreams and hopes and fears disproved,
Though the world laughs or weeps or sings)
We watch with weary eyes unmoved.
Through dreams and hopes and fears disproved
We sit all day, my mate and I:
We watch with weary eyes, unmoved,
While all the world goes streaming by.
First published in The Bulletin, 25 February 1915
