SUDDEN the desert changes, | |
| The raw glare softens and clings, | |
| Till the aching Oudtshoorn ranges | |
| Stand up like the thrones of Kings— | |
| |
| Ramparts of slaughter and peril— | 5 |
| Blazing, amazing, aglow— | |
| ’Twixt the sky-line’s belting beryl | |
| And the wine-dark flats below. | |
| |
| Royal the pageant closes, | |
| Lit by the last of the sun— | 10 |
| Opal and ash-of-roses, | |
| Cinnamon, umber, and dun. | |
| |
| The twilight swallows the thicket, | |
| The starlight reveals the ridge. | |
| The whistle shrills to the picket— | 15 |
| We are changing guard on the bridge. | |
| |
| (Few, forgotten and lonely, | |
| Where the empty metals shine— | |
| No, not combatants—only | |
| Details guarding the line.) | 20 |
| |
| We slip through the broken panel | |
| Of fence by the ganger’s shed; | |
| We drop to the waterless channel | |
| And the lean track overhead; | |
| |
| We stumble on refuse of rations, | 25 |
| The beef and the biscuit-tins; | |
| We take our appointed stations, | |
| And the endless night begins. | |
| |
| We hear the Hottentot herders | |
| As the sheep click past to the fold— | 30 |
| And the click of the restless girders | |
| As the steel contracts in the cold— | |
| |
| Voices of jackals calling | |
| And, loud in the hush between, | |
| A morsel of dry earth falling | 35 |
| From the flanks of the scarred ravine. | |
| |
| And the solemn firmament marches, | |
| And the hosts of heaven rise | |
| Framed through the iron arches— | |
| Banded and barred by the ties, | 40 |
| |
| Till we feel the far track humming, | |
| And we see her headlight plain, | |
| And we gather and wait her coming— | |
| The wonderful north-bound train. | |
| |
| (Few, forgotten and lonely, | 45 |
| Where the white car-windows shine— | |
| No, not combatants—only | |
| Details guarding the line.) | |
| |
| Quick, ere the gift escape us! | |
| Out of the darkness we reach | 50 |
| For a handful of week-old papers | |
| And a mouthful of human speech. | |
| |
| And the monstrous heaven rejoices, | |
| And the earth allows again, | |
| Meetings, greetings, and voices | 55 |
| Of women talking with men. | |
| |
| So we return to our places, | |
| As out on the bridge she rolls; | |
| And the darkness covers our faces, | |
| And the darkness re-enters our souls. | 60 |
| |
| More than a little lonely | |
| Where the lessening tail-lights shine. | |
| No—not combatants—only— | |
| Details guarding the line! | |
| |
