Hi Patrick,
Here is the poem, if you've a mind.
I find that occasionally these poetryetc posts disappear or get out of
order.
Time Circles and Nectar
What is time?
‘We have to turn the clocks
back tonight.’
We gain an hour.
But we know we don’t.
Hours aren’t time.
I watch a bee on the paver.
I think it’s dying.
Its last day, last minute?
It turns and turns
time circles, death circles.
Above there’s a daylight moon
near full. It’s been there
a long time, hanging around space.
Moon time and bee time
are different and the same
When your time’s up, it’s up.
Up till now the year
has been tiring.
‘The light looks different
in winter.’ It does but how.
Lower, softer maybe.
Or mellow and aching
They say it’s to be
a warm dry autumn
then a cold winter
It’s time it rained
so ground can be more
subtle, our skins
more tender.
We’ve remade the garden
so our plants can tolerate
drought. So they’re less
like dying paper.
I’ve lived all my life
on this old dry continent.
I still can’t tolerate drought.
I die each summer.
We got rid of most of
the exotics, the plants
of the north. Roses were
never sensible, only beautiful
within that sensual breath
so lush and transient.
I watch the bee.
It’s a native bee.
All bees love the nectar
whether rose nectar
callistemon nectar
gum nectar, apricot nectar.
It’s all sweet like
the thought of time.
No, that’s bittersweet.
It never stops. One day
I will stop hanging round
here.
I see time’s wave, shivering
up there in gum leaves
feel its particles compress
under my feet near where
the bee moves.
They’re predicting another
cyclone in the Top End
and ex-Tropical Cyclone Iris
is still mashing
Queensland beaches.
While down here
around me, I almost believe
I can smell the bush’s
old honey, the lost strains
of rose petal, the life cycle
of eucalypt sap.
I leave the bee to what
continues to happen.
________________________
Jill Jones
www.jilljones.com.au
Latest book: Brink, Five Islands Press
http://fiveislandspress.com/catalogue/brink-jill-jones
----- Original Message -----
From: "Poetryetc: poetry and poetics"
To:
Cc:
Sent:Wed, 4 Apr 2018 16:50:45 +0100
Subject:Re: Time Circles and Nectar
I can't find this poem lots of alasses
On 04/04/2018 16:37, Sheila Murphy wrote:
> Jill, this is astonishing, moving, pure, and deeply real for me.
Every
> breath of this poem builds toward a connected beauty. Thank you.
Sheila
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