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C J Dennis - Our Town Awakes
Work rating: Low

Six o`clock.  From the railway yard
      The engine toots; careering hard,
   A milk-cart rattles by and stops;
   A magpie calls from the gum-tree tops;
The pub "boots", sweeping out the bar,
Waves to the early service-car,
   While the town`s chief toper waits outside,
   Woe-begone and bleary-eyed;
Two cows go lowing down the way;
A rooster crows.  It`s another day.

Eight o`clock.  The tradesmen come -
      Shop-boys whistling, masters glum,
   To stand at doors and stretch and yawn;
   Fronts are swept and blinds are drawn;
The washerwoman, Mrs Dubbs,
Slip-slops off to her taps and tubs,
   Washing clothes for other folk;
   The cheery barber cracks a joke,
But the day`s first client fails to laugh -
Fresh from a tiff from his better half.

Nine o`clock.  Precise and neat,
      Miss Miggs comes mincing down the street,
   The town`s dressmaker, pert and prim,
   Sly eyes, from under her hat`s brim,
Gathering gossip by the way:
The same old goings-on today -
   That grocer off for his morning nip;
   The chemist, too, that married rip,
Flirting again with the girl next door.
Miss Miggs gleans twenty tales to store.

Ten o`clock.  The town grows brisk;
      Down the main street motors whisk;
   Jinkers, carts and farmers` drays
   Stop at shops and go their ways;
In soleman talk with the town surveyor
Comes Mr Mullinger, our mayor,
   Pausing at doors for a friendly chat;
   He bows, he smiles, he lifts his hat…
Now a brisker rush and a sudden din:
"That`s her!" And the city train comes in.
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