Bridge-Guard in the Karroo

1901 ". . . and will supply details to guard the Blood River Bridge." District Orders-Lines of Communication, South African War.

Sudden the desert changes,

The raw glare softens and clings,

Till the aching Oudtshoorn ranges

Stand up like the thrones of Kings --



Ramparts of slaughter and peril --

Blazing, amazing, aglow --

'Twixt the sky-line's belting beryl

And the wine-dark flats below.



Royal the pageant closes,

Lit by the last of the sun --

Opal and ash-of-roses,

Cinnamon, umber, and dun.



The twilight svallows the thicket,

The starlight reveals the ridge.

The whistle shrills to the picket --

We are changing guard on the bridge.



(Few, forgotten and lonely,

Where the empty metals shine --

No, not combatants-only

Details guarding the line.)



We slip through the broken panel

Of fence by the ganger's shed;

We drop to the waterless channel

And the lean track overhead;



We stumble on refuse of rations,

The beef and the biscuit-tins;

We take our appointed stations,

And the endless night begins.



We hear the Hottentot herders

As the sheep click past to the fold --

And the click of the restless girders

As the steel contracts in the cold --



Voices of jackals calling

And, loud in the hush between

A morsel of dry earth falling

From the flanks of the scarred ravine.



And the solemn firmament marches,

And the hosts of heaven rise

Framed through the iron arches --

Banded and barred by the ties,



Till we feel the far track humming,

And we see her headlight plain,

And we gather and wait her coming --

The wonderful north-bound train.



(Few, forgotten and lonely,

Where the white car-windows shine --

No, not combatants-only

Details guarding the line.)



Quick, ere the gift escape us!

Out of the darkness we reach

For a handful of week-old papers

And a mouthful of human speech.



And the monstrous heaven rejoices,

And the earth allows again,

Meetings, greetings, and voices

Of women talking with men.