This house, in lattice to the eaves,
diagonals tacked across diagonals,
is cool as a bottle in wicker.
The sun, through stiff lozenge leaves,
prints verandahs in yellow Argyle.
Under human weight, the aged floorboards
are subtly joined, and walk with you;
French windows along them flicker.
Les Murray
sarah teasdale
There will be rest, and sure stars shining
Over the roof-tops crowned with snow
A reign of rest, serene forgetting,
The music of stillness, holy and low.
I will make this world of my devising
Out of a dream in my lonely mind,
I shall find the crystal of peace; and above me
Stars I shall find.
FOTO – CAMPERDOWN ROOFTOPS
Elizabeth Reeves
The minstrel sat in the corner of the inn, letting his fingers play absently with the strings of his harp while he listened with full attention, and a blank expression, to the murmured conversation at the bar. His pale-gold hair, the colour of leaves fallen in the autumn seasons, caught the light of the slowly fading sun, streaming through the window at his side. It cast the golden light into his well-shaped face, highlighting the fine features. His expression was still and thoughtful, a short beard emphasizing, rather than hiding, it. Only the minstrel’s eyes gave away just how deeply interested in the conversation at the bar he was. His eyes were leaf-green and intense, staring off into space.
http://www.helium.com/items/1091582-excerpt-from-straight-arrow
FOTO – DORRIGO HOTEL 2007
“Or like a poet woo the Moon,
Riding an armchair for my steed,
And with a flashing pen harpoon
Terrific metaphors of speed.”
Roy Campbell, ‘The Festivals of Flight,’ 1930.
FOTO – KINGSCLIFF BEACH NSW FROM THE AIR OF A FLIGHT TO SYDNEY
Grey hair is beautiful in itself, and so softening to the complexion and so picturesque in its effect that many a woman who has been plain in her youth is, by its beneficent influence, transformed into a handsome woman.
Maria Richards Oakey Dewing (Miss Oakey)
To a Sea Shell
Friend of my chamber–O thou spiral shell
That murmurest of the ever-murmuring sea!
Repeating with eternal constancy
Whatever memories the wave can tell;
Whatever harmonies may rise and swell,
Whatever sadness in the deep may be–
They are the ocean’s, and desired of thee;
Thou treasurest what thou dost love so well.
So all my heart is one voluted fold,
Shielding one face, and evermore it seems
Upon the threshold of the prying day,
Hid in the tangle of reluctant dreams;
And in the noontide, and the evening grey,
Its light illumines secrecies untold
Hubert Church (1857 – 1932)
FOTO – SEASHELLS FROM NSW NORTH COAST
Beyond the mountains, more mountains. (Dye mon, gen mon.)
Haitian Proverb
FOTO – MULLUMBIMBY NSW
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you cannot go through a particular door. Always be prepared to go through a door that leads to your goal.
Ann Saddlemyer, literary historian.
Ne permettez jamais à personne de vous dire que vous ne pouvex pas vous engager dans tell our telle voie. Soyez toujours pretes à continuer jusqu’ç ce que vous atteigniez votre objectif.
Ann Saddlemyer, Historienne de la litérature.
FOTO – JENNIFER AND JOANNE. 2007. WEST TWEED HEADS.
A very short selection of Yiddish proverbs from UNOFFICIAL CRACOW. The original Yiddish version comes first, then the transcription, English translation and Polish counterpart with its English translation.
FOTO – QUT BRISBANE 2007
“The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes.” Robert Louis Stevenson
1843 THE CONQUEROR WORM by Edgar Allan Poe
Lo! ’tis a gala night Within the lonesome latter years! An angel throng, bewinged, bedight In veils, and drowned in tears, Sit in a theatre, to see A play of hopes and fears, While the orchestra breathes fitfully The music of the spheres. Mimes, in the form of God on high, Mutter and mumble low, And hither and thither fly- Mere puppets they, who come and go At bidding of vast formless things That shift the scenery to and fro, Flapping from out their Condor wings Invisible Woe!
EXTRACT FROM
Our Corrugated Iron Tank by James Hackston
It was a most convenient tank
Wherein most things could fall;
Where snakes came from the bush and drank,
And rabbits used to call,
The mice committed suicide,
The gum leaves sank to rest,
And in it possums dropped and died
And hornets made their nest.
But stark within my memory
I see it once again
When we all looked at it anxiously
Days when we hoped for rain;
I hear the hollow sounds it made,
Like some prophetic drum,
As I tapped rung on rung, afraid
Of dreadful days to come,
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music. Angela Monet
FOTO – JAMIESONS RESTAURANT WEST TWEED HEADS 2008
“The honourable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his table.” (Confucius)
FOTO – CURIOUS MEAL AT BLUE FROG TOOWONG BRISBANE AUST 2007
“She walks–the lady of my delight– A sheperdess of sheep. Her flocks are thoughts. She keeps them white; She guards them from the steep. She feeds them on the fragrant height, And folds them in for sleep.”
Alice Meynell
IMAGE – AUSTRALIAN DROVING SCENE.
RACHEL NAOMI REMEN
The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.
Australian wind song
A poem by John Tomlinson©2005 John Tomlinson
My words are written on a westerly wind
please read them, or listen, please be my friend;
and let’s fight for justice and peace without end
and dance in the face of the westerly wind.
FOTO – HIMI AT BUDDHA BELLY UKI 2008
Aigerim = beautiful moon
Aigul = moon flower
Aizhana = moon spirit or beautiful moon
FOTO – WINTERMOON FESTIVAL 2008
“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.”
Bernard Meltzer.
FOTO – LUFFLEY CAFE MURWILLUMBAH 2009
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