Poetry A Magazine of Verse JANUARY, 1917 VOL. IX THE NEWS HE buzzer boomed, and instantly the clang bow Bumped with soft splash against the wharf; Again within the Yard a hammer rang― Somewhere aloft-and strangely, stridently She seemed to feel That hammer in her heart-blow after blow Her heart that such a little while ago Had been so full, so happy with its news It stopped, That dreadful hammer. And the silence dropped And murmur of voices as the men trooped out: To meet her eyes. Against the grimy wall That towered black above her to the sky, And her stretched arm to shake the solid stone, Had stood among the chattering company Was changed. An unknown terror seemed to lie Then with a sigh Of glad relief she ran towards the gate The News The terror of the hammer and the wall Fell from her as, a woman to her mate, She moved with happy heart and smile of greeting- Was whether he would like the food she'd brought, With a grave smile he took his bait from her, Than in the crowd of munching, squatting men She chattered too a little now and then Of household happenings; and then silently Each busy with their own thoughts, who till now As innocent, happy children, anyhow, The innermost secrets of their wedded life. So, as the dinner hour went swiftly by, They sat there for the first time, troubled, shy— A silent husband a silent wife. |