Rupert Atkinson

Melbourne Sonnets. 19. Midnight

THE wide streets glimmer in gray solitude.
A last belated reveller, roistering by,
Jerks out a catch, a spasm as to defy
Night, and the ambient, stolid structure, nude.
A cluster of strident harlots sink their feud.
Accost and clasp him, as playfully they ply
Him bickering; and they vanish all awry.
Dimmed by the glare, the stars are all subdued.

The meretricious city Is as still
As any drunken courtesan by day.

These wearied streets of roofs and shops are all
But the excretions of men's greed. Away,

Like a far nightmare, town and suburbs sprawl,

Away — mute, aimless, inexplicable!