Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918.

By Enid Derham

185 . The Suburbs

MILES and miles of quiet houses, every house a harbour,

Each for some unquiet soul a haven and a home,

Pleasant fires for winter nights, for sun the trellised arbour,

Earth the solid underfoot, and heaven for a dome.

Washed by storms of cleansing rain, and sweetened with affliction,

The hidden wells of Love are heard in one low-murmuring voice

That rises from this close-meshed life so like a benediction

That, listening to it, in my heart I almost dare rejoice.