Poem by Rupert Atkinson

Nightmare

Down crumbling steps I galloped fast;
Swart cliffs and gullies on each hand
Engulfed the night; dry, yellow sand,
Far-strewn with wreckage, gaped aghast.

Alone I swayed; deep in the night
Hooves beat away, and faces dark
Rose surging, menacing; and stark
Squat shapes swung backward, feigning flight.

With scarce a murmur from the sea,
Gashed, scarred, and sullen, sinuous.
Long billows foamed, and even thus
The white-fanged waves leered up at me.

Before me and around, the blind
Earth stirred; a sigh of sick despair
Sobbed, stifled, through the sluggish air;
Black horror urged me from behind.

I knew not whence I fled, nor why;
Fear paled within me, and desire
Shrank, spurting like an ebbing fire;
Hope mocked me from the pallid sky.

And whither I should flee, or whence
Had fled, I knew not. Like one grin
The grey, grimacing tide swept in;
Far tumult shook the darkness dense.

Forever strong to fleer and flout,
Wild sea-rack eddied nearer yet;
My sorry limbs were sore with sweat,
My livid soul consumed by doubt.

And red scorn from aloft shone wide;
Black from the sky grey waters raped
Incestuous waves; and, terror-shaped,
My eyes surveyed the grinning tide.

Strange shudderings whimpered far and near;
My vision quailed; derisive forms
Approached, and, gibbering, gibed in swarms;
They touched me, and I ceased to fear!

And ocean, earth, and sky, effete.
Were shown but witless growths of Time —
Sudden my soul burst forth sublime
With budding wisdom, violet-sweet !

But now awoken, wistfully
I envy him who watched aghast
That frantic rabble weltering past,
The scowling sky and loathsome sea;

For barely breathes an echo thence
When that one moment thrilled with light,
Whose memory taunts and daunts my plight,
And chokes me with my diffidence.

1. Melbourne Sonnets. 8. The Stock Exchange
2. Melbourne Sonnets. 4. On the Kerb
3. Promethean
4. Melbourne Sonnets. 13. On the Block
5. The Flight of Puck

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