Andrew Gabriel: ‘Afternoon Delight’
Afternoon Delight
From the start a kind of secret guilty pleasure.
Not many know you’re even in my life.
We meet once a day around three o’clock
our dalliance lasting an hour or two.
I feel somewhat dopey but refreshed once we’re through.
My wife scans my face for signs that I’m needing you.
Often forcibly arranging a rendezvous
knowing all will be well afterwards.
There have been times when I went without you.
I’d go to bed overtired, jittery.
Sometimes the latest research confirms or
denies your usefulness—I don’t care.
Churchill said you divide the day in two.
Giving all who take you a second chance.
Andrew Gabriel
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
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6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
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23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
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2 mins