Feathers of frost still flaunt their loveliness,
But it is useless to pretend earth cares.
A rendezvous clandestinely she shares
With an old love whose lips she soon will press.
Already now her hardenbergia dress
In bright unrationed purple lengths she wears,
And cool uncouponed blossom-gauze prepares.
Despite the pathos of the world's distress.
The solid sweetness of the banksia now
To the frail wattle's transient scent gives way,
And the first orchid points a pale pink spear.
A sweet thick note resounds from bough to bough.
The pallid cuckoo has returned to say
Whether you like or not the spring is here.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 August 1944
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Old Qld Poetry
See also.
But it is useless to pretend earth cares.
A rendezvous clandestinely she shares
With an old love whose lips she soon will press.
Already now her hardenbergia dress
In bright unrationed purple lengths she wears,
And cool uncouponed blossom-gauze prepares.
Despite the pathos of the world's distress.
The solid sweetness of the banksia now
To the frail wattle's transient scent gives way,
And the first orchid points a pale pink spear.
A sweet thick note resounds from bough to bough.
The pallid cuckoo has returned to say
Whether you like or not the spring is here.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 August 1944
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Old Qld Poetry
See also.
