And so it is
we want so many things and much
What is real and not? What is the plan?
Our garden is an endless performance
of light and shadow quick bird and insect palaver
The decisive wisdom of cut basil informs everything
teaches even the black rocks of the back divide to breathe
Blessed are the flowers herbs and vegetables
Reina has planted in their healing loveliness
The hibiscus blooms want a language to describe their colour
I say the red of fresh blood or birth
A lone monarch butterfly flits from flower to flower
How temporary it all is how fleeting the attention
The boundary palm with the gigantic Afro is a fecund nest
for the squabble of birds that wake us in the mornings
In two weeks of luscious rain and heat our lawn
is a wild scramble of green that wants no limits
Into the breathless blue sky the pohutukawa
in the corner of our back yard stretches and stretches
Invisible in its foliage a warbler weaves a delicate song
I want to capture and remember like I try to hold
all the people I’ve loved or love
as they disappear into the space before memory
Yesterday I pulled up the compost lid
to a buffet of delicious decay and fat worms feasting
Soil earth is our return our last need and answer
beyond addictive reason fear and desire
Despite all else the day will fulfil its cycle of light and dark
and I’ll continue to want much and take my chances
©Albert Wendt
March-April 2017
Albert Wendt has published many novels, collections of poetry and short stories, and edited numerous anthologies. Last week, along with four others, he was recognised as a New Zealand Icon at a medallion ceremony for his significant contribution to the Arts.
fantastic descriptions. I love that ‘squabble of birds’ in the Afro…
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