Of craving your lips – your being to me hold
I loved you from the very depths of my soul
What manner of magic spell do I conjure up
To make you want me as I do you?
Why can’t you return my love – is it that impossible?
I thought we could weave a web of forever love
Of deep trembling love
Where did I go wrong?
~~~~~
Buddy – the Russell Island Red
Buddy the Red Heeler Cattle dog
His captivity he used to dread
Born into backyard suburbia
And not on a cattle spread
Sentenced to patrol a backyard
Although a runt and kind of small
Viewing visitors through a paling gap
Locked up behind a six foot wall
Then one day his mistress packed him up
And they sailed away to a new home
Where no six foot wall imprisoned him
An island where he was free to roam
By day he goes on walks and fishing trips
Retirement really is his forte’
Or riding in the front of mistresses car
By her side is where he likes to stay
At night the creature calls and stirrings
Have him on his guard and out of bed
Keeping them all from mistresses door
Is now the job for this Russell Island Red
(In memory of Buddy 1997 – 2008)
~~~~~
Formula for Friendship
(For Queenie)
If friends were made to formula
Upon this troubled world
Requirements like help in troubles
Unselfishness unfurled
Would be the main ingredients
Withstanding all the strife
That comes upon us every day
Throughout our troubled life
To need a friend and have one
Means more to us than wealth
And what joy would this old world possess
If we were by ourself?
For sharing dreams and sorrows
and our uncertainty
Are part of that old formula
Of friendship’s recipe
Who else could understand the need?
We have from day to day
For a regular example
That friendship’s here to stay
As ‘friends’ they cannot fetch a price
For earned they have to be
And the formula for friendship?
Just live unselfishly!
~~~~~
The Life of a Sailor
Oh for the life of a sailor
To be sailing along on the sea
The mighty wind blowing and cooling my mind
Away from the crowds I’ll be free
Oh for the life of a sailor
To live life haphazardly
A heave and a ho
As the mighty ship goes
Out on the ocean for me
Oh for the life of a sailor
A lover in each port I see
They’ll never know or question my life
Just be glad to love little me
Oh for the life of a sailor
No bills a pressing on me
I’ll live up each day
With no-one to pay
Escaping society
Oh for the life of a sailor
My rum keeps me company
With a heave and a ho
Overboard I will go
A lost in the wide open sea
(For Peter 1967 -1988)
~~~~~
No Time for Fishing
For thirty years we’ve held land here
On Russell Island – out in Moreton Bay
Where the holiday home we intended to build
Is our retirement home and where we’ll stay
We arrived with Buddy our Red Heeler
My daughter Jackie, the cat and me
And an 8 tonne removalist van and its men
Full of furniture and household debris
Unpacking took up the first week now
Trying to make everything fit
Next week we can do – what we moved her to do
We’ll have time to go fishing or sit
The ‘islanders’ all made us feel welcome
Friendly smiles telling what there’s to do
For a retiree with a 9yr old daughter
Former mainlanders who hadn’t a clue
Well there’s Bingo on three times a week now
Raffles, Pokies in both of our clubs
Where you can buy a nice meal dear
And win money with drink ticket stubs
If you paint there are weekly Art classes
Two teachers - different venues, on twice
And if you like to dabble in theatre
The ‘Have-a-Goes’ are really quite nice
Russell Island Singers meet every Monday
And give free concerts for people in care
Not to mention our great Writer’s Circle
If you have some imaginative flair
For children there’s Guides and Athletics
Mainland training for Naval Cadets
The school’s has some good Sporting programmes
If you don’t want to get her feet wet
There are Dinners and Shows on quite often
Bus Trips, Special Luncheons and such
Exhibitions of Flora and Craftwork
School Fetes that don’t cost that much
We’ve only been here for a month now
NO TIME FOR FISHING – that much is true
I’m busier now then I was ever before
For a retiree - I’ve plenty to do
~~~~~
Reclaim Our Territory
(The war of the islands)
There are feisty little winged creatures
Living upon these isles
Who attack in swarms both day and night
And they can travel miles
They appear to lie in wait for you
To leave the shelter of your home
And not one soul is left untouched
No matter where you roam
No home repellents, Aerogard or Rid
Will keep these pests at bay
They just try to bite you through your clothes
And return again next day
The council says “Too late to spray
The islands for this pest
The winds all wrong
We’ll waste your dough
Stay indoors – that is best!”
And thus we’re left to fight alone
Attacks from Mozz and Midgee
We’ll stand our ground and be well armed
And reclaim our territory
~~~~~
Single Cyberspace Site
T’was on a freebie Singles Site
As I couldn’t get to sleep
Looking for some handsome men
I was really delving deep
I saw a nice looking gent on there
He was very nice indeed
I added him to my favourites list
He replied with greatest of speed
We’re thousands of kilometres apart
Half way round the earth
He’s in England way up in the north
I’m in Aus down south of the girth
This internet is a nifty thing
Cuts distances down to seconds
A flick of the switch and you’re chatting away
To anyone in the world who beckons
Cyberspace friend from foreign lands
Who are waiting to answer your call
It’s night over there and daytime here
Who cares- just chat to them all
This new millennium’s brought us pals
Via internet lines, where we
Exchange som
e jokes and family pics
Or go on a shopping spree
And to think that only six months ago
I shunned involvement with the net
Now I’m typing away to all my new friends
Filling hours now and aren’t they well spent
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