[on 26/10/05 1:04 AM, Douglas Barbour at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Ah, I'm emeritus now Max.
A grand sound, Doug. Honorary Associate is me, and the office to be shared;
library access wonderful...travel mostly a dream...
Max
And now a snap]
A distant roaring in the dark and I half-woke to listen,
thinking yes itıs coming this way from the north,
a big wind that will test our trees -
but weıve already removed (at such expense!)
the limb-shedding gums that overhung the glass.
Louder faster and closer, the big wind signals
heavy rain too, perhaps like the cloudburst
that hovered that evil night not long back
when rainwater cascaded inside causing panic,
ruin, insurance claims and long-drawn-out repairs.
Itıs here and the heaviest rain is pounding the metal roof
and the sloping glass - I peer up flinching -
itıs hail now that clatters and bounces
off and wants to break glass, but doesnıt.
We still have electricity, and bright light falls
now on the back terrace and garden. The hailıs
piled white everywhere, falling heavily still,
transforming all that greenness and no doubt
stripping petals from all the spring blossom.
Puppy and I open the back door and stare -
the fall passes - it is a wonder,
and his first hailstorm ever; mine?
the biggest since myself a puppy
and hail was one of many wonders.
He pads out curiously, sniffs, hurries back in.
Max Richards
North Balwyn, Melbourne
6.30am, Wednesday 26 October 2005
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