Poem by Rupert Atkinson

Melbourne Sonnets. 13. On the Block

WHIRLED in a shimmer of muslin, satin, lace,
They chatter, laugh, and smile; their radiance glows,
And from their loveliness a fragrance blows
Which deifies each mystic girlish face.
Here's more than magic 1 In every coy grimace,
A glove's half-gesture, the tilting of a nose,
There lightens something from each dainty pose.
Some startled sweetness or elusive grace.

Observe them thus in splendour — yet they walk
No less in nakedness though pads complete
Their glittering, fluttering raiment — nearer gaze
Deep through their warm, white skin ; watch how they stalk:
Stiff bones, automatons of what they eat —
Who live — and live but while their flesh decays.

1. Melbourne Sonnets. 4. On the Kerb
2. Melbourne Sonnets. 10. At the Drapers
3. Evensong
4. Melbourne Sonnets. 1. In Collins Street
5. Promethean

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