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In the absence of roses

Explored August 30, #368. Thank you :-)

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Telopea Mongaensis (budding waratah)

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Whether he was convict or free

Matters little; his love

Had come a long way

To a land where birds screech

And jeer, and spiders

Hide in boots.

 

A wattlebird flapped from it

When he found it, tall-stemmed

In stony ground.

Thick bracts, bright red,

Like petals. Clustered,

Curled flowers, like crimson

Spider-palps, the whole

A ball, bigger than his fist.

 

In the absence of roses,

He picked it for her;

The tough stem scratched

His skin in lieu of thorns,

 

And when toil was over

And the dust washed down,

He gave it to her, and she cried.

 

- Giles Watson

 

***I have since discovered that Giles is a Flickr member too. He is a wonderful photographer as well as a fabulous poet and very special person. I'm sure he would love it if you paid him a visit sometime:

www.flickr.com/photos/29320962@N07/

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Uploaded on August 31, 2008
Taken on August 27, 2008