An autobiography
listing all the things
you haven’t done
in your life might
be just as revealing
as one about the
things you have done.
Category: Uncategorized
Gauntlet
I challenged
received wisdom,
but those who
had received that
wisdom did not
accept my challenge,
said that the wisdom
was unchallengeable,
and therefore the
challenge was wrong.
Never mind, soon I will
be gone, and then you
can say “what challenge?”
Treading lightly
Summer is here,
in the middle of
Spring, with the
first warning of
bushfires, and the
first moment of
almost treading
on a snake (a cute
baby Black, but hey
a snake’s a snake).
In winter I stride
across the land
(though always
avoiding ants, and
beetles, and spiders).
I walk differently
in Summer. Slower,
more carefully,
each foot
landing lightly.
Concentrates the
eye wonderfully
knowing the next
step could be your
last. Is that what
makes us Australians,
I wonder, such a
cautious tentative
breed?
Acerbus et indignus
Whenever war
is declared,
whichever countries
are involved,
you will find,
making the
announcement,
a clown, backed
by his followers –
all hard-faced men
who intend to
do well out of it.
Uneasy lies the head
Being the “Oldest
Inhabitant”
of a town
is a job
for life;
but not
for long.
“Village Idiot”
also used to be
a job for life
and a long one;
but now a new one
comes along
every day.
End of the road
Old age is
like walking through
a Grimm forest
in a dark night;
branches whip
the face; unseen
carnivores roar;
pits give way
underfoot; trees
fall with a crack;
and somewhere
ahead on the path,
waiting in the gloom,
is the slough of despond
Missing in action
Every night
and every
minute of
every day
On the dotted line
If there was
a religion which
guaranteed
an afterlife of
reunion with
all your old pets
I would sign up
in a wag of
a dog’s tail
Lost is lost
Unheard footsteps
echoing in halls;
unglimpsed eyes
peeping round doors;
unseen tails
wagging with joy;
unspoken barks
welcoming home.
Goodbye my dear old friend
