Allen Curnow Poems

Old friend, dear friend, some day
when I have had my say, and the world its way,
when all that is left is the gathering in of ends,
and forgathering of friends,
...

Behind the eyelids the giant in the sky
is probably sightless, but that can't be known.

Cruciform from full-stretched arms his black robe drops
the whole way to the city. His fingers point
...

Freshened by any wind, sanitised
with pine and cypress, the slaughterhouse

is cool as a church inside. High rafters
too. A gallery. The hooks hang ready.
...

At nine fifteen a.m.
on the first day of his eighty-
first year. Why don't I
...

The typical tidal range, or difference in sea level between high and low tides, in the open ocean is about 2 ft (0.6 m), but it is much greater near the coasts.—Desk encyclopaedia


Our beach was never so bare. Freak tide,
system fault, inhuman error, will it
...

I

My turn to embark. A steep gangplank
expects me. An obedient child,
I follow my father down.
...