1
I saw Time flowing like a hundred yachts
That fly behind the daylight, foxed with air;
Or piercing, like the quince-bright, bitter slats
Of sun gone thrusting under Harbour's hair.
So Time, the wave, enfolds me in its bed,
Or Time, the bony knife, it runs me through.
"Skulker, take heart," I thought my own heart said.
"The flood, the blade go by - Time flows, not you!"
Vilely, continuously, stupidly,
Time takes me, drills me, drives through bone and vein,
So water bends the seaweeds in the sea,
The tide goes over, but the weeds remain.
Time, you must cry farewell, take up the track,
And leave this lovely moment at your back!
II
Time leaves the lovely moment at his back,
Eager to quench and ripen, kiss or kill;
To-morrow begs him, breathless for his lack,
Or beauty dead entreats him to be still.
His fate pursues him; he must open doors,
Or close them, for that pale and faceless host
Without a flag, whose agony implores
Birth to be flesh, or funeral, to be ghost.
Out of all reckoning, out of dark and light,
Over the edges of dead Nows and Heres,
Blindly and softly, as a mistress might,
He keeps appointments with a million years.
I and the moment laugh, and let him go,
Leaning against his golden undertow.
III
Leaning against the golden undertow,
Backward, I saw the birds begin to climb
with bodies hailstone-clear, and shadows flow,
Fixed in a sweet meniscus, out of Time,
Out of the torrent, like the fainter land
Lensed in a bubble's ghostly camera,
The lighted beach, the sharp and china sand
Glitters and waters and peninsula -
The moment's world it was; and I was part,
Fleshless and ageless, changeless and made free.
"Fool, would you leave this country?" cried my heart,
But I was taken by the suck of sea.
The gulls go down, the body dies and rots,
And Time flows past them like a hundred yachts.
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Comments
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From guest Matt (contact)
'Of sun thrusting under harbor's hair' - this line caused me considerable stress when I received it in an English Exam some time ago. I believe it refers to the way the light rays are reflected by small particles in the Harbor's water, and looks a bit like strands of hair piercing the water, although could also refer to the smog over the harbor 'harbor's hair', although would there have been a polluting smog over Sydney in Slessor's day? Might have been a fog? I went with the first suggestion, but my advice is NOT to use this in an exam if you don't have to... also THE GAME. -
Out Of Time
A beatiful flow of word and rhyme. A subject close to everyone's heart captured in this peice. -
"birth and be flesh, funeral and be ghost" Those words can never be more true. Impressive observation and descring of the fallacious haze we are surrounded in, there is no way to escape time, only through death or looking back at the memories."the moment's world it was; and I was part" countless doors taken, million doors amiss. Well written.
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poem
From guest Stefenie (contact)
Its about life, in a sense life going quickly before your eyes. Over time you learn life lessons and time shapes you into the person that you are. And eventually we all pass away and become "Fleshless and ageless, changeless and made free." We die and still after we die life goes on and time continues to go by. -
wow
From guest Tamara (contact)
well, I'm usually the type to hate poems and anything written but I found this poem is surprisingly really great. My english homework has turned into something good. -
Meaning
From guest jess (contact)
Slessor, is exploring the negative affects of time, and how it is "the bony knife,[that] runs me through". Slessor explores the fact that time affects the human condition and inevitably leads to death. He shows this through extended metaphors. Furthermore he explores the idea that memory can be a solution from the affects of time because the "water bends the seaweeds in the sea, The tide goes over, but the weeds remain". The water, symbolises time, while the seaweed is memory", therefore showing that the solution of memory is only temporarily, because things of the physical world such as the "squiel of seabirds", and "five bells" in the poem FIVE BELLS, bring him back to reality.In addition memory is fragmented by the wind (wind symbolises time) -
meaning?
From guest S (contact)
This poem is fantastic and its true the slower and more you read it the better it gets. What do other people think of the meaning? I am interested in other interpretations. -
slow and relaxing
From guest Chafmere (contact)
I enjoy all Australian Poems but this one is good to just read, take your time and enjoy it. Sort of like eating chocolate slowly.
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