Almanac Poetry: Prince Albert Hotel, Daylesford, Victoria
Main Street, Daylesford – oil on canvas laid down on board, 57.0 x 76.3 cm, by J. Tensfeld. 1862. (Source: Wikipedia.)
Prince Albert Hotel, Daylesford, Victoria
Night approaches.
Mist descends
on this mid-winter country town.
The ducks on the lake
huddle close to shore.
In the hills, the honey stall has shut.
Alone, I stand in a back street,
looking at the ruin
of an old stone pub.
I can just make out its name
on a crumbling side wall:
‘Prince Albert’—Victoria’s beloved.
Was it a pub where families would gather?
Or rough-heads brawl on Saturday nights?
Popular? Poorly patronized?
A few old locals might know.
Judging by what buildings remain,
this town of a mere few thousand
used to have a pub and church
in every second street.
Sin in one, be forgiven in the other:
everything in balance.
(Acknowledgements: first published in Polestar, 2009; then in my second book-length collection, Lionheart Summer, 2011, Picaro Press, reprinted by Ginninderra Press, 2018.)
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
Kevin Densley’s latest poetry collection, Sacredly Profane, is available HERE
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His fifth book-length poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws ... I'm Feeling Too Indolent, was published in late 2023 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, which was published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Anyone in Almanac land know anything about the old pub building mentioned in this poem? – I’m very curious, as I haven’t been able to turn up much myself.
Love it.
Cheers, Kate. Thanks! I enjoy doing poetic “sketches” such as this.