July 2012

 

 

Above Us

 

 

Above us the

Blue sky is deep

Closely resembling a sea

Drawing into shore are

Effervescent waves like clouds and

Further out the deep

Greens of the night where

High masted boats

In sail can be seen

Joining us from the far

Kingdoms they

Left to

Make their way here

Now I see

Only

Perfection in

Quiet

Ripples on the

Sea’s high

Tide

 

 

Above us the

Blue sky is deep

Can its

Depth

Ever be

Fathomed life

Goes on

Here

Inland

Just beyond reach of the

Kind waves that

Lap each day filled with

Meaning and

Nobody much notices but

Over time their

Persistence brings a

Quality of

Refined beauty and

Sadness

That sinks

Under the hills

 

 

Above and

Beneath the

Circumference of a sea that

Does not cease to

Engage us in

Freedom

God in

Heaven

Infinitely is

 

 

 

As the Wattle

 

 

As the wattle

Bloomed by a road and

Clouds

Disappeared to the

East a

Feeling

Grew that

Here

Is something I

Just do not understand

 

 

A pale

Blue winter morning

Currawong and magpie calls

Darkly overtaken by the wind the

Early sun turns its

Face to us through

Growing clouds a

Hard light

Is on the grass

Judging it time to sing a little bird like a

Kernel of

Light

Makes its music as it

Nibbles

On a branch

 

 

As the Father of lights

Beholds no shadow and

Cannot turn as we shift he

Delights to

Enter our world

 

 

At the approach of Rosh Chodesh the moon is

Blind and we too

Cannot see her

Dark

Eye

Fixed on the

Great expanse where

Her love once was

 

 

Are we

Behind a

Cloud where

Death is

Eclipsed

 

 

 

As far as the I sees it is

Blind it

Cannot

Distinguish the

Eastern dawn

From stars touching the

Ground

Horizon to horizon

In darkness it

Just

Knows

Longing while

Meaning like

Night

Outstretched

Perfects its

Quiet

Return

 

 

As a leaf falls a leaf

Begins the falling of all

Called to fall as a leaf

 

A

Bird sings

 

 

 

As Waves

 

 

A beginning at the end

 

 

As Waves

 

As waves

Break

Calling in the

Distance

East

From here

Great light

Has and

Is and will

 

Jubilant they

Kneel with their

Long

Majestic backs bent

Near to shore

Outstretched before light’s

Presence on the sand

 

Quietly

Remote their

Sound is

Terrible near

 

 

Recapitulation

 

Afternoon light

Begins to fade the

Curved earth is

Departing

Each

Form

Grows

Heavy

In sunshine

Joining harmony of darker

Keys making

Long

Modulation to

Nascency

 

 

A Mist

 

A thick mist had come down

Between grass and sky

Colourless like

Death

Encroaching on the

Future but

Ghostly

Hesitant

Incapable of

Joining us for now and here a

 

Knowingness on the

Lake where

Mist obscures all features but

Numb trees

On its silver surface

 

 

 

As Rain

 

As rain falls on our roof I sit

Beneath it

 

Can

Darkness

Enfold but not enter

 

For our

Globe lit room

Hosts us while

In the night

Jet black rain

Keeps falling

 

 

Julia

 

As upon the

Blue glass of a sphere your

Crystal

Days were

Etched and

Finding them complete you

Grew restless from

 

High above the earth

Is living blue

Just as it turned you

Knew and

Leapt

 

Mary’s son entered your room

 

 

 

The Delta

 

 

A kitten plays

Bounding across the room

Cold water in a metal jug and

Dish

Each being will

Find its stasis like the

Golden water

Held

In the

Jug the

Kitten’s

Living

Motion

Needs

Only time’s

Placed in a

Quiet

River like

Silt carried out

To sea

 

 

As water poured into water

Breaks its

Clear surface and

Disturbs

Equilibrium

Falling water soon ceases to fall and disturbance

Grows still

Here

In oblivion

 

 

A spinning top

By my hand on a table

Ceases

 

Dark

Entropy it

 

Falls

 

Grown

Heavy

 

 

 

As fish dart and dance

But when older glide through the

Clear water our

Destiny is like theirs

 

Each

Flock of

Geese makes

Haste

In formation

Joyful in the

Keen air until they

Land lightly on a

Marsh below the

 

Nearby river was

Once a tiny spring

Poised in the mountains in

 

Quiet

Relentlessness all

Slows

 

 

 

Near Us

 

 

Alpha Centauri

Bright binary star at

Civilisation’s

Dawn part of an

Equatorial constellation shifted

Far south since that time the

Greeks depicted the constellation as

Half human half horse with the Southern Cross as one of

Its legs the Babylonians as a bison with a human

Joined at its torso

Keeping to its course it will gradually

Lift in our celestial sphere

Moving

North towards the celestial equator and then

Over the next hundred thousand years will according to our

Perspective

Quite vanish from sight

Receding amongst the countless

Stars of

The Milky Way

 

 

 

Alpha Canis Majoris the

Brightest star in the sky the

Closest that can be seen with the naked eye known as the

Dog star or Sirius since

Earliest times its rising marked the

Flooding of the Nile after a seventy day absence from the sky a

Goddess was connected with it there and in Greece it

Heralded the hot dry summer

In the southern skies it marked the onset of winter among the Maori and at the

June winter solstice in Hawaii when it reached its culmination it was named

Ku-alua Queen of Heaven

 

 

A star named

Betelgeuse is the third vertex of the Winter Triangle also

Called the Great Southern Triangle the other vertices are the

Dog star and its companion Procyon meaning Before the Dog because the

Earth’s rotation causes it to precede Sirius as it travels across the sky

For the Babylonians it was involved in the construction of the heavens

Greater in size than Sirius but far cooler it has almost fused its

Hydrogen into helium and soon

It will expand and turn orange as it burns outwards from its core

Just as earth was once bombarded with comets a similar

Kind of planet orbiting Procyon would suffer these birth pangs

Long ago the ancient

Macedonians saw Procyon and Sirius

Not as stars but as circling wolves hungrily watching

Orion as he

Ploughed his field with oxen

 

 

Are you our

Bright neighbours

Could you

Describe your view of

Earth on your

Far celestial spheres

Governed by

Holy rules you track the

Infinite sky while we here

Knowing more know

Less the

Maker of the stars

 

 

 

 

 

At Dawn

 

 

A star

 

Below a star

Clear

 

Darkness

Emerges

From darkness

Emerges

Darkness

 

Clear

Below a star

 

A star

At dawn

 

Birds

 

Clear light

Dew’s

Early

Form

Early

Dew’s

Clear light

 

Birds

 

At dawn

 

 

 

Another

 

 

A face seen in

A face of

Another a

Beholder

Beheld

Beholding a

Considerer

Considered in

Dark recognition of

Each

Familiarity

Each

Dark recognition

Considers the

Considerer

Beholding the

Beholder

Beheld in

A face seen in

A face of

Another in

Zion

Your face my

Existence reflects

Your face my

Zion

A face of

Another

 

 

 

Our Neighbour

 

 

As a tree grows outwards year

By year in

Concentric circles whose

Depths

Explain its

Former times we are

Governed by our

History

Indelible upon the hills a

Jeremiad about the trees who

Keep us

Living by their breath while we

Mark them for slaughter our

Nature is

Opposed to theirs our cities’

Perpendicular rings have

Quashed our ancient

Relations in the lands

Surrounding with

Towers of

Undying steel instead of

Vital

Wood

 

 

As we grow outwards

By the year in

Circling cities our

Deep need is still for

Evergreen

Formerly the

Great forests were

Host of all as

Incubators of

Joyful life their

Kinship of

Leaves

Marked man’s

Nativity

Our lungs in

Pristine forests

Quiet

River

Systems and plains were oceans of

Trees

 

 

Alas the great forests are gone or

Broken by our

Callous hands

Did God command us to

Expand and

Fill the earth with

Greed

He meant

Instead to

Join with it in

Kind husbandry and

Leave

Much of

Nature as it is an

Open book of His

Perfection that we might

Quest to know and love

Restrained by

Silent forms on hills and plains the majesty of

Trees

 

 

As long as

Breath is in my lungs I will

Consider that my

Destiny is

Entwined with theirs

For as

Green trees adorn our

Homes and parks

Inspire our paintings and

Join our dreams may our existence which is to

Know to

Love to

Measure and to

Need be air to them in their

Open fields

 

 

 

Until the Light

 

 

As the rain

Began the trees were full of

Calls

Darkness and light

Existing there among

Familiar

Green to

Hear

Is

Joy a

Knell of

Living

Mystery

Named

Only when the rain

Persuades the

Quiet trees to

Ring

 

 

A billowing wave

Broke over the hills its

Crest concealed the sky

Descending in

Entrails of

Foam the

Gums were

Hidden

In a

Jacket of

Kashmir

Left on the

Mountainside

 

 

A

Blue that is

Clear and beautiful

Draws us to

Examine the

Fine

Grain of

Heaven

It’s

Jealous love has

Kept

Life’s

Measure

Near

 

 

A first

Bird

Calls in

Darkness

 

Except

For the

Golden moon part

Hidden by cloud and

 

In the east

Joining it a

Keenly

Lit star

Makes its way

 

Now

O

Prayer a

Quiverful

Release your

Song to

The sky

 

 

A lovely

Bird is singing now and

Clouds where

Departed night was once

Enter the

Frame of day the

Grass

Holds dew the sky

Is new

Joy its

Key it sings to

Life’s immensity

 

 

As wind

Blows

Clouds

Deep into blue

Existence

Finds itself renewed the

Green earth

Hastens to

Incline in

Joyful

Knowledge that the time of

Long

Misery and

Night

Our lay has

Passed and now a

Queen in

Royal green and

Sea blue shoes and

Train of trees

Unties her

Veils of

White

 

 

 

To Know

 

 

Angels surround the throne

Black before the

Crystal core of

Darkness that no

Eye can see or

Face behold a

Glory

Hidden

In a

Jewelled

Keep

Light

Majestic as

Noonday’s

Oblivion where all

Perception fails

Quenched by

Radiance of the

Sun

That

Undying rules the

Vast eternal

World

 

 

As mortals we are

Behoved to keep silence

Can any person speak before the

Descending light that reaches us from the

East where

Far off flames

Govern the sky

How can we speak when the

Infinite descends to

Join us like a

Kestrel on the wind with

Light so bright that

Morning is as noon and

Noon as night

 

  

Two Gods

 

A heavy form

Built like an iron ship

Cold and grand that

Draws ten thousand feet

Exporting

Fire within its hull

Groaning in

High seas

 

Is this the one who

Jesus

Knew

Light upon the

Mist that

Nourished

Open

Pastureland and

Quietened

Ridges of

Soil

That lay

Under his feet

 

 

 

Alleluia he is

Born our

 

Creator

Descends to

Elevate our

Flesh to

Glory

 

Holy holy holy

Is he I

 

Join their cry

Knowing

Love limitless is

Meant for us to know

 

 

As bright a

Blue as noon

Could be seen

Deep in his

Eyes a

Friend who

Goes out on the

Hills

In search of those who

Journeying

Know that

Love is here when his

Moist eyes are

Near

 

 

A

Bonfire on a winter night

Consumes the

Darkness close at hand as

Eternal

Flame the chaff

Gathered at

Harvest

In part we see the

Joy we

Know is

Living in those flames that

Must consume all love esteems as

Nothing

 

 

 

 

In a Garden

 

 

A garden shall include nine things to help us love life

Better

 

 

The Dandelion

 

A dandelion was in my garden

Blown by a gentle breeze a

Curious world on a stalk

Dangling over green

Each tiny seed with

Fitted wings together made a

Globe a bee could

Hover near or clouds

In shadows

Join a

Kilometre below or

Light years

More the jewels of

Night flying in

Open splendour a

Perfect galaxy

Quick light has

Relayed to our world a

Sister to

The dandelion that wind

Undoes by morning

 

 

The Leaves

 

Among the leaves fallen

By the thousands on the lawn were

Colours of the autumn

Days when

Each had

Floated in the air until on a

Grassy bed its

Hovering form found rest

Inspired the earth had

Jealously

Kept a dream through the

Long summer that

Maybe it could

Nourish life

Outspringing from its womb until

Perhaps the

Quiet trees

Released it to the wind

 

So the colours’

Testament is

Undying

 

 

The Night

 

At night the

Black grass is

Covered with sky

 

Details

Expected below are

Far above the

 

Ground

Has become

Infinite

 

Just as I now

Know its blackness

Late on the lawn

 

 

The Tree

 

A silver

Branch

Collecting

Distant stars

Each tiny

Fruit here

Golden

Hangs

In ripeness

 

 

The Sun

 

All things the

Blessed sun has

Claimed this

Day

Each

Form from

Grass to bee to tree

Has been embraced

In

Joyful

Knowing

Love

 

 

The Mind

 

As it

Both

Can know growing and

Decay among the images that

Emerge in the mind the

Fertility of a

Garden

Has its archetype

Inside

 

 

 

The Fence

 

A metal fence

Between us after

Councils

Divided and

Entrepreneurs sold

Former Dharug lands our

Garden is now

Host with us

In

Joint stewardship of the

Kinetics of the sky

Like every other

Meadow

Nature shares

 

 

The Pomegranate

 

A pomegranate tree

Beside the path

Covered in

Deep red

Each

Fruit has

Grown

Heavy on the branch

I notice

Just then a

Kinship

Left there a

Mark of

Nature’s

Original

Perfection

Quaintly

Reflected in the

Six pointed star

That lies

Underneath each fruit

 

 

The Neighbour

 

A neighbour’s

Best hours were spent in

Cultivation he

Dug the ground and

Every afternoon was

Found watering his

Garden one day

He explained

In hushed tones the

Joy he

Knew a

Little

Mystery

No

Other

Perfect world

Quite matched ours and in his

Right hand he held the

Soil and

Told me he could eat it

 

 

 

The Sun’s Mark

 

 

A House

 

A house of

Bricks each

Colour

Drenched in sun

Every window

Frames a vista on the

Glass a

Heavy shade

Is on the wall

Joining

Keenly

Lit objects to it like a

Mirror

No sound no

Other

Presence there but

Quiet

Radiance of the

Sun

Transfiguring

Undisturbed

 

 

A Shadow

 

A shadow is the halo of

Brightness its

Crisp image

Describes

Existence’s

Frailty and

Grandeur a

Highlight of

Intangibility a

Jet black

Keel to

Life’s

Motion the

Near side

Of

Perfection a

Quarry of

Rays

Sunk by

The sun

 

 

 

Luka Mark

 

As we looked west

By the roadside in the front seats of our

Car my son’s face was

Divided by the sunlight and the shade to the

East was the morning to the west we

Faced the sun that would

Go down in an

Hour behind the hills as we sat there

In the sunlight

Joined in conversation and in thought the sun that

Kept on setting kept

Lifting up its

Mark of light upon his face as his

Name

Outlined the

Purpose of his life

 

 

And if I Die

 

And if I die

Before you and

Come to

Dust the

Early one

Found in the

Grave

How will you be

In life alone

Just then I

Knew as I

Lay before

Morning and

Noticed the horizon

Of birds

 

 

All Beneath

 

All

Beneath

Covered in light as

Day

Eclipses night

 

For as our shadows reach the

Ground

Here

In

Joy our true form

Kept will

Leap as

Morning turns to

Noon

Our

Presence lifting in

Quick flight to

Reach the

Sun

There

Unperturbed

Victorious over the

World

 

 

 

The Four Bears

 

 

Ann Cestors spoke to four

Bears about a Des

Cendant who had heard another

Des sent ants to

Eat up all the honey that the

Friendly Des Cendant had

Gathered in

 

Hearing ants were at the door to

Get the honey

Friendly Des Cendant

Entered the room before the

Des sent ants

Could eat the four

Bear’s inheritance

 

Ann Cestors thanked him

 

 

 

Our Land

 

 

A

Blue sky

Covered

Distant land where

Every

Form

Grows weary of

Heaven where

Injustice

Jars and few

Keep

Love’s

Measure yet

Nobility

Outstretched now

Pleas to those who’d flee

Quick

Reality and

Seek

To

Understand the

Vision of

Wide heaven

 

 

A

Broken and a

Contrite land

Deserted by

Eternity a

Fallen

Grandeur

Here

Inland where

Justice

Kept is

Left bereft by

Men’s

Need

Of

Pleasure a

Quiet

Religion

Served

The land

Until our

Violence came

 

 

A

Brother

Called

Dust

Expands

For

Giving

Him our

Interior he

Justly

Kills our

Living core and

Makes

Nothingness

Our

Price for

Quantifying his treasure

 

 

Above our eyes the

Beauty of

Creation breaks as

Dusk

Explores the

Far off stars

Gathering to

Host the night

Invited by a

Joyous

King who

Lived as we yet

Measureless his

Native tongue was

Openness and

Praise his

Quiet voice

 

 

Attune

Beneath he

Came

Dust

Eternity

Forever linked

God

Housing us

Infinity and

Justice

Kindness

Love

Make

Nothingness

Our

Place but

Quickly

Reached the

Stars

Today

Until

Vast

Wonders

 

 

A land

Beneath the

Clearest sky

Deep night

Existence

Frailty

Governments

Harbour

Ignobility

Justice

Keens

Life

Measureless

Now

Opens

Plains of

Quietude

Rockface

Sun

Transfigured

 

 

 

At summer

Brightness

Conceals

Day in

Elemental

Fire

 

Gum trees

Have come

Into flower

Just as

Kingfishers

Linger

 

Majestic

Night

Of stars

Prince of

Quiet winter

 

Reborn

Song

Teaches

Us

Vital

Wisdom