Decades saved, not wasted, this house I built Devoted hands, gainful work, nights and weekends Searched longingly up and down, high streets and low Waiting for my heart to jump out, at the sight of her Saved, invested, scrimped and pawned Hoping one day, enter new dawn Window closed, garden bare, I set upon the terrace stair Knocked and waited, in the rain Admiring abalone strewn along front wall Evidence of inhabitants, though no one there Someone lived inside once, absence inlaid in rainbow pearl Me and view of quaint corner garden, sandstone steps Panorama or paranormal, needn't matter This house, I have built with hearts and hands Love inhabits and dwells always, echoes in empty rooms Filled with laughter, stories and poems My life, I have built, a shelter from storms Will water soil for one-day blooms.
This morning I was cleaning up instead After my well fed children While they rest their weary head I didn't cook dinner this evening It was the children's turn They argued over whether to have Snitzel, sausage or lamb I didn't make the carnival Athletics, swim, cross country I had to work that day That week, all year and couldn't come I couldn't take a holiday My leave was all used up From tending to the snotty noses, headaches, wheeze and coughs. But every day is fun around here, we laugh and listen and care But lay a word of criticism to the mothers out there.. Do you dare?
For many years I pondered What was behind ivy wall Sandstone thick quarried From ancient hill, the one I gazed upon until my lids Grew heavy with waiting For dreams to come Keys thrust upon me to open Hulking oak door with bolt Chamber rusted shut Determined to make a home Surrounded by eucalypts For good cover from The elements soaking into My pores Heaven scent aroma of cineol opens my eyes Brighter to adore Walled garden no secret anymore For before me lies the vast Hills and plains of freedom And realise it was I who was contained in my own Secret garden all this time
Eons ago it seems One night, two phones Like bricks, dropped On the grass Beside the swings Siren in me called To the depths of soul Blackest ink of night On accused innocent shore Marieville esplanade Yachts silent witness Lights in trees Pulled back to reality Grounded me with roots Hundred years deep A semblance of friendship No matter how keen Held the dear life Within me
Upon waking I realise I am not ready for The way the world Presses in on me From all sides Until I spy The spiral motion Of living things All around I feel safe At home Taking my shell Of security Everywhere With me Curl once more Adding up the numbers Wins multiply behind me Cast myself off From the shore merrily To begin another adventure Between the tides
A cornucopia of shell finds cast ashore at Taroona Tasmania
Generations carved from Giant's causeway Lava flow of war Igneous rock hardens Into a pathway across Vast waters separated by Continental drift Forming political shores Generations have traversed To find a new life by boat
Now, since my birth Family lines divided By technology Sounds beeps and static Gave way new intelligence New lightning fast Ways of doing Meanwhile, just being For those who can recall The differing bird calls Sounds peeps and trills Calling us out into The vast wide world To become new again
Count the stars of heaven 