A way with words

No matter how well
They're put together
Words have a way
Of leading astray

Down rabbit holes
Up Toad's willows
In dark with mole
Long on the nose

On the run again
Like Banksia men
Up and out
Flying elephant spout

High as a kite
With a bosom friend
Try as we might
Gone round river bend

We offer our cheers
To a friend big ears
Lift off in the sky
On a lemonade high

Still to return
From doldrums we yearn
Come dally with me
Round the giving tree

Brave is the one
With words so few
But ears and arms
To live stories
With you

By Emma Haynes and Lilian James

Love like

A waratah
My favourite
By far
Opening fingers
Delicious red
Planted firmly
Sandy bed
No need
For nurture
Spoil or fuss
No matter how
She tempted us
Hardy yet
Delicate
Glorious
Display
To rival
A rose
In her own
Stunning way

Unspoken pain

Unspoken pain
Furls the brow
Like tectonic plates
Left and right brain
Colliding

Tears and words
Flooding rain
Eroding sharp precipice
Smoothing softening
Cascading

Deep richness
Exposed openly
Filtering through
Luscious soil
Creating

Love like

A blossom tree
Budding growing
Willing knowing
Instinctively
When warmth
Comes upon
The breeze
Still sudden
Frosts sleet
Winds beat
Against tender
Shoots and leaves
Making parade
Confetti admire
For a day
Blown away
Too few fruit
For feathered
Friends greet
Instead reside
In cool shade
Till we meet
And bloom again
At winter's end
Cherry blossom

Love like

A rainforest
Soaking in
Air thick moist
Beauty prickles
The skin
Abundant growth
Above and below
Every nook
Covered over
A place for every
Living thing
For every falling
Another grows
Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, lutruwita/ Tasmania

Happiest endings

Not until absence
Impresses
Cold and dark
Faint light
Stark
Silent weight
Until morn
Happiest endings
Followed by
Glorious dawn
Never knowing
In still life
Sun's direction
Setting or rising
Only known
By watching
Flowers closing
People settling
Creatures stirring
Streetlights shining
In the dark
A spotlight shines
Replacing sun's rays
Reminding of what
Lies instore

Love languages

Even if a lion had words
We would not have a clue
What he'd say
Lives separated
By fate

A multitude of meaning
To relay
If only love
Made a way

Hopping islands
Walking wilderness
Feeding favourites
Meeting tribe
Soaking memories
Sitting silence
Staring sunrise

Words are limiting
Pain fades with time
Feelings too real
To describe
Love language
Of mine