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The Spike: or, Victoria University College Review October, 1920

Washing Up

page 37

Washing Up

A swirling froth of bubbles, a warm steam
Of dirtied water and some dank dish-towels,
A somewhat subdued clatter of wet plates,
Some fragments of chewed bone, of beef and fowls,
The back-bone of a half-digested bream;
A tousled housemaid fresh from cleaning grates.

A chink of spoons and forks in quiet commingling,
And click of knives, of dirty steel on steel,
The glint of cups, bright polished glasses gleam
Among the remnants of a midday meal;
A bright-eyed housemaid blithely carolling;
How much she's out of tune she does not dream.

She sees high-coloured visions of full moon,
And breathless nights; in her is strength of limb
And strength of loving steadily and long
Basins and jugs, each with inverted brim,
The chink of spoons keeps merry anvil tune
To her scamped version of an olden song.

C.Q.P.