WINTER REVERIE

“Every mile is two in winter.” - George Herbert

I was in Brisbane today for the day, thus it was another jam-packed full workday as well as a two-hour flight each way. The weather in Brisbane was fine and sunny with a top of 21˚C, while back in Melbourne it was cold, wet, wintry. Coming back at the airport tonight it was wonderful to see the sheets of rain coming down. Something we are not used to in these last 12 years of drought. Our water reservoirs are approaching 20% capacity and the rain will help to stop them emptying further, but we need the biblical 40 days of rain to fill them up, I think.

Travelling becomes all the more difficult in Winter. Getting up at 5:00 am (seemingly in the dead of night) and getting back home at 9:00 pm, where did the day go? A glimpse of the sunny landscape in between meetings…

Winter Reverie

Winter has arrived
Bringing with him,
The smell of decay, rotting leaves,
Wet soil and the perfume of daphne.

Milky white dawns,
Sun argent, feebly shining;
Plumes of grey smoke, evoking
Warm grates, hot buttered toast.

Lucidly cold nights,
Wet, shiny streets, on which
Only your footsteps echo, meandering
On the deserted, desolate footpaths.

Winter has arrived,
Clutching in his bony fist
Silken silences, fog-enveloped loneliness,
Cold, pure sheets and long, white nights.

Jacqui BB hosts Poetry Wednesday