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.

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