Come and see me with autumn’s fall
We’ll share the light and colour
I‘ll always answer your call
Come and see me in winter time
When the wind blows cold
Makes our warmth sublime
Come and see me in joyful spring
When the world renews
Our time for loving
Come and see me in summer heat
When we can seek cool places
Where and whenever we meet
Or come and see me forever one day
And we’ll stay together
Forever always
Be kind to the one that you love
Love isn’t a problem to solve
Love is human unique
With no room for pique
To give and receive
To hold and believe
Be kind to the one that you love
If it wasn’t for your touching me
I wouldn’t know what touch could be
If it wasn’t for your sweet embrace
I would never have looked into your face
If it wasn’t for your sparkling eyes
I wouldn’t have seen just where love lies
If it wasn’t for your soft whispering
I wouldn’t know my heart could sing
If it wasn’t for your soft warm kiss
I would never have known what I missed
If it wasn’t for you warmth at night
I wouldn’t know what two just might
If it wasn’t for your body bare
I wouldn’t have loved you everywhere
If it wasn’t for your faith in me
I wouldn’t know how far to see
If it wasn’t for you my own true love
I wouldn’t know to rise above
I hold this all so close to me
I use it all to keep me free
So I’m the one I want to be
The one who loves. You eternally.
Time for dinner
Well, we all knew what that meant
Time for the end of the day
Time to send friends on their way
Time to come in from outside
Time to come out from your room
Time to stop homework
Time to put down that book
Time to race to the bathroom
Time to tuck in that shirt
And brush your hair
Time to scrub those hands
Polish that face
Ready for inspection
Time to transform from
Rough and ready rascal
To be seen and not heard
Time to never be late
Time to take your designated
Place at the table quietly
With bowed head
Time to await your plate
Time to scan the newspaper
Standing tall in thick fingered hairy hands
At the other end of the table
Only the front and back pages ever viewed
While mum dutifully served
And offspring mutely ate
An unchallenged meal
Of meat and three veg
Tinned fruit
and milk for the weeds
She spoken to but never heard
They spoke at and ever erred
Sitting in silence always unnerved
Once fed desperate for dismissal
Before something went wrong
Before the security of bed
Where the anticipation of morning
And a new day unhindered
Would see a smiling chatty woman serve
And happily scold misdemeanours
In a bustling kitchen full of life
Breaking our bread
While the breadwinner toiled away
At that unhappy and mysterious place called work
Heading in opposite directions,
I saw her across the intersection.
The lights changed,
we both stepped into the street.
My eyes instantly locked onto her attractive pale oval face.
As she came closer our eyes met fleetingly.
She was captivating and unexpected.
After that first time I saw her
she became a recurring
dream.
And yet, we had not exchanged a word.
It was the light in her eyes that concentrated my attention.
They sparkled with mischief, fun, delight and joy of life.
They were irresistible.
I intuitively knew they were telling it true.
Despite never knowing it before,
I knew Immediately I had been looking for those eyes forever,
looking for the person behind them all my life.
And there they were,
passing me on the road,
disappearing as fast as they appeared,
part of a human wave heading home from work,
also irresistible.
I have heard people say the first thing they fell in love with
were their partner’s eyes.
Well, these were those eyes.
They spoke to me directly, urgently.
of being together,
telling me there was more I must learn here,
all the things I needed to know for the right future
were behind those rich brown eyes
with the big dark pupils of evening.
Just those two deep pools of enticement alone were enough.
They called on me to throw caution to the wind,
to surrender myself to the yearning,
to give up everything for her
And I would have right there and then too
had not we been separated
at the very same instant we didn’t meet.
Moved by the pressed bodies of a dense compacted throng
going one way and the other,
as we passed I turned trying find her,
earnestly scanning the back of
as many sombre grey hats, coats and heads as I could,
engaged in a process of rapid fire elimination
until I caught my foot on the curb and stumbled.
I looked again.
She was gone.
Every following evening I waited at that corner.
Enveloped in my own dark winter proof cladding.
Examining the crowds.
Scrutinising every office worker heading home to dinner.
Muffled and reserved.
I sought that same light, that one bright spark, that point of difference
in the fast fading dusk of shortening days.
My own hope fading
as each short day felt longer and lonelier.
It was on the same day of the next week
she reappeared.
A Thursday.
How could no one else be alert to her quiet warm aura,
gently glowing against a background of gloomy evensong,
the trudging of homeward bound feet.
I fell for her.
I mean literally.
I was so preoccupied with not losing sight of her
I darted across traffic and was bowled over at her feet.
She almost fell over me.
She quickly sidestepped,
bent over,
put out her hand
and pulled me up.
All in one graceful movement.
She saved me from a trampling
and alternate futures
I didn’t want to contemplate
We stepped out of the human tide
into a shopfront vestibule.
She asked if I was alright?
I wasn’t. I was so embarrassed
I couldn’t speak but,
she just smiled
she straightened my coat, looked
me up and down,
said “That’s better” and asked would I like a cup of tea?
Three hours later we were still at that little table for two in the Block Arcade café.
Those eyes told no lies.
The way a beloved dog rests a lazy head upon your knee
The way a wooing look invites you toward mutual intimacy
The way a cup of tea slows time and calms an over active mind
The way a good book immerses you in new realities that bind
The way a word becomes a story, a poem comes of rhyme
The way a voice becomes emotion, movement becomes a mime
The way a favourite song transports you back to that special place
The way a touch can speak of love as it brushes across your face
The way a first wildflower discovered announces coming spring
The way a view from a mountain can make your heart leap and sing
The way a beautiful landscape incites gratefulness, awe and joy
The way a true love will not waste time with you by being coy
The way a walk in the forest restores hope, balance and well being
The way a look deep into the stars can change your way of seeing
The way a composted garden grows better in space and over time
The way a perception can be a knowing, a knowing can be a sign
The way a naked body is a beautiful body as long as there is beauty inside
The way a grievous loss becomes warm memory after someone special has died
The way a child’s innocence equates with unqualified trust
The way our lives play out
Live best you can
After it’s just
Dust
Am I really
the one you see?
Or do you superimpose
someone else
over me?
Someone
I will never agree
to be
In your expectation
I will
dutifully
bend to your will
as a vassal
bends the knee
That’s not really me,
part of your hegemony.
Just now I need you
you see.
But, my duty to you
is not my duty to me.
As I strive for self determination
and security.
My left wrist between your breasts
My left hand upon your chest
My left forearm lies across your left ribs
My left elbow beside your abdomen
My left bicep hugs your flank
My left temple on your left shoulder blade
My chest against you back
Your buttocks cushion my groin
My quads align with the back of your thighs
The front of my knees inside the back of your knees
My tibia parallel your calves
Your soles rest softly on the dorsal aspects of my feet
Your soul binds my heart
Believe in me, believe in me, believe in me
Said each of the the guiltless emphatically
Ministers in the State Labor Party
Said each of the blameless emphatically
Ministers in the Federal Coalition Parties
We’ll create a safe and free society
Where rule of law and democracy
Are the state of play and how it should be
Trust in us, trust in us, trust in us
To build a world of justice without the fuss
Where all are equal and none are hushed
None are corrupted by power lust
Faith and hope, faith and hope, faith and hope
To save the civilised world, give us enough rope
See us tie it in knots and we’ll see how you cope
See us twist it and turn it, make it slippery with soap
Deceit and lies, deceit and lies, deceit and lies
We’re the cream at the top of reformist deniers
We laugh as the piss weak we hang out to dry
As our robodebts and branch stacking see due process die
Watch and despair, watch and despair, watch and despair
As we bring down noble institutions without a care
As we turn our society into one where no one will share
As we promote vested interests beyond repair
Our connections to the world outside
Digital threads off the Tableland
Are brittle lines
That disappear into the ether
Whispers into the virtual world
Where they really go
I don’t know
I find an number, a url, an IP address
and click
To send or receive
My message goes out to somewhere
A response comes back from somewhere
So distant, is it real, this ethereal contact?
As real as a handshake, a hug or a kiss?
I love the tang of a tomato
As it tickles the taste buds on my tongue
There’s nothing quite like the tingle
As the juice begins to run
The pop of the first bite
The explosive gush of taste
When I eat a tomato
Not one bit do I waste
I wonder what it is I see you for
When all I crave is to see you more
There’s your smell I can’t resist
My melting heart after we’ve kissed
Your fingertip pressure upon my spine
Body electric your touch divine
The texture of your warm soft skin
The brush and rush of lovemaking
The way you walk and swing your hips
The way you talk with precious lips
Your voice a sound of sweetest measure
The sound of true love‘s spoken pleasure
The way you think and make me wonder
You shake my world, views torn asunder
And when you challenge it stirs in me
New hope and ways that I can see
Your hair holds aloft a thorny crown
You turn the wind right way around
Your shoulders strong they carry me
Arms embrace me meaningfully
Our limbs entwined our hearts on fire
Together, inspired, alight, desire
When your nose nuzzles my neck
I feel the comfort of a future set
The deep, dark pools behind your eyes
They drive me to resist good byes
I love to love you in every way
I need to see you every day
These are the reasons
Y I C U
The sea the sea the rolling sea
Is all that I adore
Let me let me be upon the sea
Mother dear, I implore
Beside stern lantern’s fading light
I’ll wave to fading shore
To sail away year and day
And learn the ocean lore
A seaman right and able I’ll be
A landsman never more
Vonnie sent me this lovely poem after seeing my recent post about Whroo Historic Area. It has been a favourite site for her and husband Graham over the years. I can see why. I have Vonnie’s permission to reproduce it here.
This place is littered with broken brick,
discarded bits of crockery,
signs that once this was a home
to those who dug for gold.
They have been gone a long time now –
gone with the spoils of their sojourn –
leaving the bush, now done with,
to its thoughts.
Neglected fruit trees struggle to survive,
the wells are dry and mine shafts filled
with rubbish and with rubble;
peppercorns droop,
their pale pink seed pods dangle,
their spicy scent hangs in the warming morning;
tired pines lean into afternoon
with limbs like old bones, twisted.
Absence has brought wildflowers to
the graves within the little cemetery –
bindweed and finger flowers are bright
against the dusty ground;
the headstones slump and mutely spell out
lives in gaining spent.
The ironbarks have staked their claim;
the native cherry and the wattle stand
amongst the straggling Chinese scrub;
mounds of mullock have grassed over and
the hard earth, spread with scats,
is rich again with golden everlastings.
Choughs in dozens protest at approach;
loudly, harshly they insist
this place of strange abandoned beauty
is their territory.
My aubade for thee
Played lovingly
Under window thine
On morning fine
Post sleepless night
Love’s tortured plight
I sing to confess
Hand on breast
As my music plays
I see our days
Together ahead
In love’s soft bed
Rich with the melody
Of my love for thee
Listen my love
At rest above
Unto me call
To climb thy wall
Open thy window
Into which I’ll go
To lie with thee
In love’s company
You know how much I love you – much
I love so much to touch you – touch
Let’s not make a fuss about it – fuss
Just live and love together – just
I adore you I am all yours – adore
The more I see you the more I want you – more
Let’s spend our love together – love
Above the mundane we’ll rise – above
Be as one known one to – one
Like sun you light my world – like sun
What Prospero said should not be decried
Give death its rightful standing in our lives
As a lens through which to view the good for which we strive
To ponder temporal versus the eternal that is always nigh
To elevate appreciation and despondency defy
And so, when vibrant youth immortality implies
When healthy vigour makes the future glisten in our eyes
When happiness is at its peak with all that it supplies
When prosperity creates opportunity many are denied
When security is such that all our fears it belies
Take a moment to remember it is only life that dies
Value life through death as on times fleeting wings it flies
The mind that honours death values life on high
I’m living the sci fi dream,
so it seems.
Where we understand the choices
and know what they mean.
Yet still sleepwalk into disaster
amongst the silent screams.
Acting on fear
Fear to employ
What they hold dear
Prepared to destroy
Soft touch
Soft lips
Hug held
Soft hips
So precious
Sublime
So perfect
All mine
I feel it behind me
stalking and faceless
skulking and malevolent
The hairs on the back of my neck
stand on end
like highly sensitised
oh so brittle antennae
I walk more briskly
I am tempted to run
but not tempted to tempt fate
Each step announces
a deepening sense of dread
a heightened anxiety
a rising feeling of panic
Evil is about tonight
amongst the chill night air
and the cold dull haloes
of the too distant streetlights
There it is again
The faintest of scrapings
rapid and sequential
advancing along the pavement behind me
Demonic footsteps of malicious intent
portents of pain and suffering
They strain my hearing to the point
of questioning whether I hear anything at all
but I know they are there
coming
closing
My eyes dart urgently
from side to side
A tic
twitches my cheek
I am shaken to my core
I startle at a moth that brushes my cheek
My head flicks left
My head flicks right
My fully dilated pupils
black as any pit in hell
scream at me for more light
and scour the edges of darkness
for a bolt hole
Sanctuary
any hope to cling too
Peripheral vision
reams in the sidelines
desperately seeking refuge
struggling to see ahead and aside at the same time
Sweat begins
to bead my brow
Cold sweat
Shivers
wrack my body
I begin to whimper
I don’t want to hurt
to plead for my life, my soul
for mercy
I don’t want to die alone
I don’t want to die here
and now
A movement
in the corner of my eye
I stumble in fright
miss the kerb
roll my ankle
The pain shoots up into my calf
and something tears
I gasp
My flight becomes hobbled
I limp on in fear
dragging my injured foot
scraping the rubber of the sole
on the hard surface
of coarse concrete
Then
comes the first touch
An icy point
A razor-sharp prickle
pierces my jacket
In one swift motion
needlelike it penetrates the fabric
just breaking the surface of my skin
From my lower back
a cold finger of ice
tracks a paralyzing pathway
up toward my right shoulder
Muscles cramp
then seize
into an excruciating knotted strip
of rock solid pain
Futile teardrops begin to fall
I sob in absolute horror
and misery
“Oh God, help me, somebody help me!”
I wheel
there is nothing there
The second touch
burns
as a keenly sharp edge
slices a clean shallow line
fully across my left cheek
This one is hot
like dry ice
The blood flows
as thick warm syrup
It makes its way down my pallid face
mixing with the tears and snot of fear
dripping onto my stained clothes
gluey on my hands
I didn’t even sense the blade coming
let alone what wielded it
Dread wells up inside me
threatens to overwhelm me
I pursue escape
from terrifying pursuit
The road is empty
straight
as far as the opaque darkness
allows my eyes to see
Where pavement ends
terraformed tracts of bare earth begin
A homeless housing estate
At the periphery of illumination
feebly provided by each dreary streetlight
is murk
thick with ominous foreboding
It envelops the world
on this souless, moonless night
Hope fades
The third touch
is a heavy thump
in the small of my back
It cripples me
I stagger
It is all I can do not to collapse
I must stop to breathe
to fall on my haunches
straining to fill my airless lungs
I double over
when I need to stand
I pause
when I need to run
I falter
when I need courage
I give into weakness
when I need to find strength
I heave
when I need to draw breath
The fourth touch
comes as a surprise
Desperately preoccupied with surroundings and survival,
my head and neck are parted,
as I miss the prophecy of imminent death
but fleetingly register
oh timely release
oh sweet oblivion
I wake at 4 in the morning
In the small hours
When small things matter
and ideas can repeat in your brain
taking on more significance than they deserve
eroding your ability to unwind
Like a tap dripping in the next room
But not this morning
This morning it is soft rain I hear
gently tinkling on the metal
of the carport roof outside
It is warm under the covers
I feel secure
as your soft regular breathing resumes
after you roll onto your side next to me
Was it an interrupted dream?
I like not knowing everything that goes on in your head
After all these years you can still surprise me
I snuggle up to your back
and rest my forehead between your shoulder blades
As I contemplate what it is to be us
your heels settle into the angle of my ankles
your calves align with my shins
your thighs mold to mine
and your backside schmoozes deliciously into my groin
I raise my head to create more space
so I can wrap my arms around you
pulling your upper body into mine
As my arms embrace your warmth
I soak up your textures
I draw in your smell
With my eyes closed
I sense every point at which we touch
I feel our body rhythms synchronise
as my muscles relax
and my mind smiles
with the intimate pleasure
of as much body contact as we can muster
I savour the moment
as peaceful sleep reclaims me
I walk under the flowering trees
I hear a mighty incessant drone
The canopy is filled with bees
The bees that pollinate our homes
A gift from flower to flower they spread
The food chain thrives and grows
They keep all animals and people fed
With pollen transfer and honey flows
At our peril we ignore their plight
Bees are dying around the world
As they depopulate out of sight
Desiccated bodies shrivel and curl
We blithely march into the future
Pesticide monoculture deforestation
While bees cooperate store and nurture
We blithely march toward desolation
Save the bees should read the banner
The banner we have left unfurled
Plant more trees in every manor
Preserve this insect and save the world
The misting rain as light as being
The pitter patter rain of anticipation
The sun shower rain of joyfulness
The dawn lit rain of new awakenings
The driving rain of persistent harassment
The piercing rain of pain and hurt
The bleak rain of uncertainty
The saturating rain of grief
The pounding rain of anger
The cold rain of fear and loathing
The persistent rain of melancholy
The drought breaking rain of celebration
The tropical rain of surprise and relief
The tin roof rain of night time snuggles
The slanting rain of getting under your skin
The fat wet rain of things to come
The dull rain of misery
The easing rain of hope for a day
The sheeting rain of washing your sins away
The aerosol rain that never settles
The eddying rain of indefinite endings
The ominous rain of growing darkness
The thunder laden rain of shock and awe
The storm driven rain of nature’s authority
The drenching rain of no escape
The floating rain of disproportionate outcomes
The harrowing rain of oppression and spite
The lightning flash rain of vision burned
The unexpected rain of scrambling for shelter
The flooding rain of tears
The icy rain of an unknown future
The sleety rain of chilled to the bone
The sunlit rain of clarity of purpose
The dancing rain of swirling possibilities
The evening rain of contemplation
The elemental rain of fundamental outcomes
The cloaking rain of secrecy
The wispy rain of dissipation
The hard rain of death
The transparent rain of release
The soft rain of peace
Head for home my darlings
Run the very last mile
Take your mother in your arms
Revel in her smile
See the family home awaiting
Doors always open for you
Embrace the love inside
The love that greets you two
To see you home again my loves
To look into your eyes
To touch your cheeks, your hair
Makes parents come alive
We hear the stories of life being lived
Interested and entranced
We see you grow and give
Toward life’s merry dance
Through all trials and tribulations
You know we’re always here
We hold you in our hearts
We hold you ever dear
Accepting your achievements
Your foibles and your flaws
Our pleasure’s in the hoping
That there’s always to be more
Lay down your heads our children
On the pillows of your youth
For sharing and for solace
This home is yours in truth
