Also liked 'and beyond is the back of beyond,' where we all end up I suppose.
But did wonder, a bit, about the deliberate choice of such 19th century discourse in that 4th section…
The impetus of the whole, though: very neat.
Doug
On 2013-09-18, at 2:50 AM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Liked the idea of inquisitive dolphins in all this, Max. In part 3, the line 'personal, truthful - consolingly' jarred a little for me. Part 4 is the highlight, worth a stand-alone guernsey. 'Non-being/needn't be unbecoming' very good; blend of philosophy and your customary lightness of touch.
>
> Having just driven home through Arthur's Creek and in the shadow of Mount Disappointment, I must say the bellbirds seem to have disappeared. Poetic license I take it.
>
> Bill
>
> On 18/09/2013, at 10:47 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Disposals
>>
>> 1.Sky Burial
>>
>> High in the Himalayas
>> denied wood for a pyre
>>
>> or place for a grave,
>> sky burial is practiced.
>>
>> Say farewell to father,
>> this life being over,
>>
>> excarnation achieved;
>> recite the prayers
>>
>> at a discreet distance;
>> leave flesh to the vultures -
>>
>> they deserve to eat well.
>> Bones harbour no disease.
>>
>> Father's soul is somewhere
>> altogether elsewhere.
>>
>>
>> 2.After Cremation
>>
>> Your ashes, if they're to be
>> scattered at sea,
>>
>> should first be mixed
>> with rose petals generously.
>>
>> These will prolong the ceremony
>> and increase its beauty.
>>
>> But the marine service
>> that will do this for a fee
>>
>> warns that - were you once
>> a dolphin-watcher on the bay,
>>
>> should conditions on the day
>> suit, and the spot be likely -
>>
>> your friends and family
>> may be surprised by
>>
>> the sudden upsurge
>> of one of those dolphins
>>
>> mouth open wide
>> as if curiously
>>
>> alive to the possibility
>> of salt-water ash and rose-petal tea.
>>
>>
>> 3. Service for One Who Sang
>>
>> When the singer-songwriter died young,
>> many beside family and friends
>> attended his funeral.
>>
>> The old church on Agitation Hill,
>> Castlemaine, was packed,
>> mourners stood in the doorway.
>>
>> The organ did not play that day -
>> a women's choir, the Chat Warblers, sang
>> their open-air spirituality.
>>
>> The voice of Michael Kennedy
>> himself sounded through the p.a. -
>> personal, truthful - consolingly.
>>
>> His widow had rare strength to speak
>> while her toddler clung to Grandad,
>> and we recalled the modesty
>>
>> of her lost one's many talents,
>> which even included pottery
>> and instrument-making.
>>
>> His illnesses were not dwelled on,
>> but were part of his chronology
>> in the memorial booklet.
>>
>> A double lung transplant!
>> for a man who sang! and
>> sang to the end so touchingly.
>>
>> Michael row the boat ashore,
>> he had sung and we now sang:
>> River Jordan is chilly and cold,
>>
>> Chills the body but not the soul.
>> River Jordan is deep and is wide,
>> I've got a home on the other side.
>>
>> [Christ Church, Castlemaine, 26 August 2013]
>>
>>
>> 4. For Whom the Bellbirds Toll
>>
>> Buy me a plot, last-home-buyer, book a late
>> berth in the burial ground by Arthurs Creek*
>> under the gums where wattle-birds cooee.
>>
>> Yonder glooms the watershed dividing range:
>> Mt Disappointment nods to Mt Despair,
>> and beyond is the back of beyond.
>>
>> A better place than most to be seen dead in,
>> it will take no getting used to.
>> Bid me an imperturbable bye-bye:
>>
>> tears need not be spilled. Dearest,
>> I must go without thee. Non-being
>> needn't be unbecoming - mine nor anyone else's.
>>
>> Friends, gather this once on the cemetery
>> slope, near the grave-digger's galvo shed.
>> I wiil have absented myself from this send-off.
>>
>> Bundle the burdensome remainder
>> in a deep-dug undisturbable bed; see to
>> a slab of blue-stone, please, so bones stay put.
>>
>> If the day is warm, bellbirds may be
>> about their repetitious business,
>> tolling as if for me…and thee; for all.
>>
>>
>> *http://www.flickriver.com/photos/73169559@N00/5043270799/
>>
>
Douglas Barbour
[log in to unmask]
Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation 2 (UofAPress).
Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
Something else is out there
godamnit
And I want to hear it
C.D.Wright
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