the evening sunlight falls on the lily-pilly
and the green leaves come ablaze
and the birds fly over in the sky
and the clouds spend their short lives
forming shapes and playing games:
it is all here before me
and I observe
and I am here too;
and there is no dogma or belief
or any book to live one's life by
one is free of all conditioning
and one observes the world as it is

the evening sunlight falls on the lily-pilly
and the green leaves come ablaze
and the birds fly over in the sky
and the clouds spend their short lives
forming shapes and playing games:
it is all here before me
and I observe
and I am here too;
and there is no dogma or belief
or any book to live one's life by
one is free of all conditioning
and one observes the world as it is

1
in the absence
of your rays
dear Sun
the fearful
created God


2
we trembled in our nights
in the wild
and you shattered the darkness
and you said:
‘Behold, Creatures -
Behold the Earth!’


3
I lie asleep
and you send in
beams of messengers
dear Sun
each with the same message:
‘Hey, lazybones –
wakie! wakie!’


4
by you
dear Sun
is life;
and through you
too is death


5
O setting Sun
do not drag my
heart down with you;
for it’s known in nations
where you do not shine as often
you ****** cheer and smiles away
till you come again;
do not let then my heart
dear Sun
sink with you




6
sun crazy sun
very disobedient and ill-tempered
unwilling to listen
to shine not too hot and not scorch the earth;
and show-off
and bad-tempered with its flares


7
see
the creatures of the earth
burrow deep
and go to sleep
in your absence;
and they come again
kicking and hungry
when you shine



8
I see you in the flower
that blooms it seems at random;
and I see you too
in the leaves of the lilly-pilly at my window




9
one must see the sun
or feel it
oneself



10
I think
you’re one hot blonde,
O Sun babe;
on this side of the universe
no one’s as hot as you



11
the clouds try catching you;
they are little children
and they think you are a ball
they can throw to one another


12
sometimes I wonder
in the loneliness of night
where you are
and then I see you
bouncing off the moon;
ha!
she rejects your advances


13
they look at the sun
but do not know how to see;
poets interpret it
as children play with clouds
and the holy ones attempt to
squeeze the sun into their texts

strong wind blows
this morning
through bush and garden
through grove and orchard


1
the bamboo sways
and strokes the cheeks
of the palm tree
ha!ha!ha!

and the palm tree
protests loud and clear:
Take your hands off me
you bamboo lecher!
oh!oh!oh!

2
and the gum tree
scolds the dry leaves
of the lilli-pilly
that crawl to its ground:
Have you no respect
for private property?
Get back to your mummy!
tchk! tchk! tchk!


3
And the little blades of grass
sway left and right
and the mighty oak laughs:
Look at you! Look at you!
You sway like  clowns!
he!he!he!

4
And Strong Wind roars:
I just love it!
I just love to stir things up!
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!

Crackerjack, penny back, living on a dream  
Pencil head, silly Fred, stay til he's mean
Debbie-downer, sit on the counter, can she move on
Howdy there, on a dare, don't be a pawn
Straw hat, kitty cat, I must be gone
Skippy chili, pilly dilly, standing on the lawn
Ritty rat, I'm out of that

A dream finds me in
Cotton sheets white and pilly
Which belong not to me
But to the dream that is you
Also enveloped in the familiar fabric.

I do not wake but I receive the message
Clear as if spoken
But necessarily distorted and divine:

Some love is loving parts of a whole,
This is not that.

It is not your voice but the voice of dreams
It is my dream
It is the dream of us in cotton sheets together.