You hear the "experts" declare:

We’re seconds away from ultimate destruction...

nuclear war —

While that may be true, the threat won’t turn me blue,

My days are numbered by, and for, God.

I remember when,
As a child,
My mum would "blow raspberries",
In my face...

She would tell me:
I would laugh
and giggle,
until the craze
meant I couldn’t wiggle
or scream, from paralysis.

I remember when,
As a teen,
I would blow raspberries,
In my cousins’ faces,
As I would babysit them
And play hide-and-chase
Until they came out screamin’

I remember when,
As an adult,
I would blow raspberries,
In my nieces’ faces,
Until they would dream of,
and scream for, wild raspberries.

I remember when...
All of that seemed not so long ago —

Once there was a man named Jack,
He used to ride his pushie from Holbrook to Albury and back,
Courtin' his lady, the late Marie,
“A ****** good catch!” he would say,
“And that's that.”

He loved to play the saxophone,
It's right there in his room!
He showed me some photos and put a CD on;
We sat back and listened to him croon.
Tears fell gently as memories surfaced;
His feet seemed to shuffle back into the dance of years gone by.

His breathing fell and rose,
And rose and fell again —

Then he shared how he liked to fish - several dozen at a time…
He stared back from the memories;
Hearing the ocean clap against the shore,
He was right there, now, what a catch! Sublime.
He would arrive home aplenty,
Weathered though, from the storm and sunshine galore!

Life has been full with his wife and kids in tow,
Though here now, in this small room,
photos, artefacts, and memories are the wrapping and bow,
Tying it all together when his current, present memory goes.

My bones creaked
As loud and as long
As the frogs,
On the logs and in the pond,
this morning --
Aging is as ubiquitous as nature;
In that sense:
You could say:
‘I am at one with nature.'

I long to lie down,
Where all the wild flowers grow;
Their soft embrace makes my sleep sound,
But their vivid colours evoke life within now —