A Poem for a Thursday #182

Lesbia Harford was an Australian poet and political activist. She lived from 1891-1927. She was born with a congenital heart defect and also suffered from tuberculosis. Harford handwrote her poems in notebooks or sent them in letters to friends. Unfortunately, her notebooks were destroyed in an accidental fire after her death. No complete collection of her poems exists. Harford mistrusted publishers and was in no hurry to be published. A few of her poems were published in journals and anthologies.

At ten o'clock its great gong sounds the dread
Prelude to splendour. I push back my chair,
And all the people leave their books. We flock,
Still acquiescent, down the marble stair
Into the dark where we can't read. And thought
Swoops down insatiate through the starry air.

Closing Time:  Public Library
Lesbia Harford