3 APRIL 1942, Page 11

REFLECTION

SLOWLY the long downs roll With the wave's regularity: The parallel streams

Idle through meadows, Cool the unhurried cattle, Down through the mud-flats To the rip-tide estuary. The passive melancholy Of the declining season Broods over tree-tunnel road And heath's dark anarchy.

The retired Petty Officer Has stamped his approval in bungalows Over the hillside, The river made captive By the Fisherman's Arms.

From the modernised clubhouse Discordant yachtsmen Defy the sunset With today's futilities.

NORMAN HamPsost.