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The Spike [: or, Victoria University College Review 1957]

Alight Here for Fountain and University

Alight Here for Fountain and University

Why does this coloured fountain fingering
the night with its brittle plume awaken
old fears of former ills? And why should
rain falling like insects in a bowl
so easily obscure the inward eye resting
in this over-warm room, haven
called Home? These things trouble us, like cold
sunlight on a cloudless day; should we seek
reasons, impose patterns, believe
in unfamiliar faces or olive-armed symbols
of future certainty? And what of the bleak
times when half-forgotten effigies relive
in a mute dance of despair, ragged dolls
with the sawdust running out? The fountain
plays on remembering no feats of strength
and no irony, while the autumn rain still casts
its tinctured veil on upturned faces, no stain
on this ordinary, unhallowed earth. But the old myth
prevails"—while these things are, we find no rest.