We first lived together below Tawonga Gap beneath mountains capped with snow In a Happy Valley cottage by a valley threading creek, the Happy Valley flow Where trout could be watched hunting or basking below the surface And rocks were smoothed and sandy beds were lit by sunny luminance It met the Ovens River at the bottom of our hills Joining other tributary waters of mountain rivers, creeks and rills Where the crystal waters ran clean, clear and bright Where the snow melt chilled the river deep to summer’s great delight We shared an abandoned cottage dusted off for our loving residence After approaching the farmer about its rental and to make his acquaintance That small cottage at the bottom of a gully became our first home With surrounding hills and mountains our romantic place to roam Where the land about us and its occupants were both so ancient and so old And the farmer who was born there had so many stories to be told The days were long our backs were strong as we stepped outside the door And the fruits of our labour on the block fed us more and more We took the offered chook manure from the empty runs out back Enriched the soil, dug the beds, sowed farmer’s seeds, we did not lack The planted seedlings turned to vegetables as if by magic overnight Their abundance when we harvested fed us and friends heartily every night The dairy herd had long since gone and beef were the local stock But one house cow remained for butter and milk beside the dairy block Daily hand squeezed from her teats was milk so creamy and rich It was hard to drink, and harder to say we thought we couldn’t stomach it We had to tell the farmer not to deliver each and every morn But he was good he understood stopped delivering without scorn At days end an historic long tin bath bathed us once water was heated hot Soothing us and cleaning us of grime and sweat gathered on the plot The back step was the place to sit for weaving, sewing and repair The hammock was the place to hang and relax either alone or as a pair To hear the wind, to feel the still, to think and to contemplate To reflect on the newness of life together, the pleasures to appreciate And now forty years on I still think back gratefully to that time With certainty of knowing here were the foundations of a life together This life of yours and mine
Today’s d’verse prompt came from Laura, to write a pome recalling some specific thing or things from the past. https://dversepoets.com/2021/11/09/poetics-in-the-light-of-other-days/
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