To Hone,
The friend who convinced me normality is not so hot
But poetry is…
A skylark above the Catlins pours out its song
The tide licks at the road along Molyneaux Bay Sullenly without yesterday’s winter sun Lightening the village’s ascent from beach to peak
Unrepenting the tide hisses at the road head-on Pushing it closer by the day to the church And the woman mowing beneath its yellow sides
The last voice to reach the pew by the door Asked for a reasonable offer to start the bids A visitor wonders how much is an old church worth
Sombre bush spills over rounded hill and gentle slopes Where natives fell in headlong rush before axe and fire And men and animals sucked the land of life
Poets and writers inhabit this chocolate box countryside Neighbours to cows contained in tree-lined symmetry Churning their bed of winter mud for the night ahead
The tramper climbs the fence to drink but shies away Where hoofmarks merge with rancid silt and turbid waters flow And trout and whitebait struggle against the odds
Skylarks as far as North Cape take up a song that varies little
A skylark above the Catlins pours out its song
The tide licks at the road along Molyneaux Bay Sullenly without yesterday’s winter sun Lightening the village’s ascent from beach to peak
Unrepenting the tide hisses at the road head-on Pushing it closer by the day to the church And the woman mowing beneath its yellow sides
The last voice to reach the pew by the door Asked for a reasonable offer to start the bids A visitor wonders how much is an old church worth
Sombre bush spills over rounded hill and gentle slopes Where natives fell in headlong rush before axe and fire And men and animals sucked the land of life
Poets and writers inhabit this chocolate box countryside Neighbours to cows contained in tree-lined symmetry Churning their bed of winter mud for the night ahead
The tramper climbs the fence to drink but shies away Where hoofmarks merge with rancid silt and turbid waters flow And trout and whitebait struggle against the odds
Skylarks as far as North Cape take up a song that varies little
Advertisement
