Poetry
Through the years I have been stirred to compose poetry, which I submit below for your enjoyment.
Thoughts at a harbour
A pelican-flight life,
Assured,
balanced,
Slicing harbour breeze,
Haughty,
Was not for me -
Jostling with crowds of crabs
Sidling in for scraps.
As I dredge the coffee grounds
In the emptied cup,
I prepare to pay
And leave
.But still
A gentle wind
Caresses me.
If I should leave
For my father
Consider the sting of woodsmoke,
The sharpness of autumn air
around a camp fire.
You lie snugwarm, drowsy,
Watching the small flames devour.
A claw traces the sky
Where a meteor dies.
You softly exclaim.
The stars glint, pricked in velvet.
You searched for gold
In the stone ground.
what is grief, if not
The stir of remembered places
And you?
After the Juluka concert
After the concert we
pressed belly to back in a
surge of people
ascending stair.
A stranger's shoulder
leaned hard against mine,
our breath mingled.
Breasts pressed, bodies moved.
We were enclosed in flesh
and there was warmth as we
organically moved on many legs,
swaying up the stairs.
someone hummed the tune,
not knowing the words.
A person knowing the words sang
and we laughed together.
There was the lightness and
excitement of courting days
as we sought to know
each other.
"I don't know the words
but I can hum the tune."
Let us remember
we are together -
a surge of people
ascending stairs.
