Pure delight
Little fingers find
Feathery treasure
Waving its finery
We shed parts
Of ourselves
For friends keep
To admire
In sharing
They grow
Lighter
Fly higher
Lament
Those of us
Left behind


Pure delight
Little fingers find
Feathery treasure
Waving its finery
We shed parts
Of ourselves
For friends keep
To admire
In sharing
They grow
Lighter
Fly higher
Lament
Those of us
Left behind


Even today
I smile again
A knowing one
How on earth
Can we truly know
Anything at all?
We can
On the odd day
I stumble and fall
Grasping for
Something solid
Committing to
Falling ungracefully
Hoping that days
Like today
Will come again
Tomorrow
If all the days
Were even
How would I know
How glorious it is
To rise above
The odds

If a sprout takes root
On an Island
That drifts away
Heading South
It was always there
Seeds that flew in
On the breeze
Hosted by birds
Do we blame these
Mixed leaves?
So what happens
When I wander hills
Wondering whether
This bloom or that
Warrants attention
Is all life
Worth a mention?

I've been around the world
At sea, floating, fighting
Sweating, delighting
In the vastness
Of ocean
Beauty
Deep
Yet, there is no one
Anywhere who
Inspires such
Imagination
As you
For me

How I marvel when Horror and strife Make ordinary turbulence Seem trifling How one image in the wilderness Ignite a longing Lifelong To be inspired To be present In the last days In the silence Is an aspiration Over which we have No accord Though truly Authenticity Girded by love Will always be a Heavy weight I bear it With a smile A laugh, song Stride in step Love thee well

Like driving forwards
Watching rearview mirror
Dangerously close to me
Tailgating memories
Love to love
Feet and hands
Ears and curls
Voice and jokes
Wonder when
The deal broke
Misty rear
Window view
Written off
After only
A few months
When really
All was written
For you
Future thinking laid out
Like a thin grey line
Where the ocean
Meets the sky
Boundless heights
Unfathomable depths
Unknown spaces touch
In surface tension
Breaks, bubbles
Waves and drifts
Freedom to exist
Between them
Floating on a breeze
Between continents, adrift
A breath of indifference
Can stifle the mood
Drain colour in landscape
Surrounded in gloom
Billions of raindrops
Illuminated by sun
Four seasons in one
Summer come

A homing pidgeon
Taking away
To far off places
Letting go
Watching, waiting
Every day
Hoping praying
She'll come home
When she does
Cheers of joy
The sound of
Two wings flapping
White spread feathers
Fantails
Always wondering -
If she flies
In own direction
Wondering whether
She'll be alright
This night

The nature of us all
Interwined betwixt
Soil like black gold
Sky liquid silk
Hidden stories told
Under soled feet
Rubber hits the road
Dreams and days meet
A secret underground
Threads tie us all
Telling tales of
Magnificent scale
Beauty so minute
Rare mysterious
No telling where
It wanders
Growing silently
Inside me
Just below
The surface
Waiting patiently
To arise
Tentative to touch
Hesitant to taste
A glorious surprise
If arrived
Just in time
For me

She sits enthroned
Her head of stone
Arms incapable
Of waving royally
Disempowered
For her beauty
Strength, immortality
Divine femme
No king of beasts
Can protect her
From iconoclasm
Cult postmodern
Mother to all
Yet none to rest
On her thighs
Soothed by breast
A body erect
All that remains
Of love

~John Elliott Classics Museum, University of Tasmania.