AUSTRALIA ~ The Antipodes

AUSTRALIA ~ The Antipodes
I love a sunburnt country / A land of sweeping plains / Of ragged mountain ranges / Of droughts and flooding rains / I love her far horizons / I love her jewel-sea / Her beauty and her terror / The wide brown land for me / ~ Dorothea Mackellar (1885-1968)

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Sunday, August 10, 2008

Grandeur is a Hunger


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Variety of houses on the Mornington Peninsula
~
Matinee Muse Week 4 prompt ~ Delusions of Grandeur
~

For many of us
Property
Symbolises
Grandeur
~
A big house with
Expensive trimmings means
Grandeur
~
But as the Namibian colonials discovered
Human "plastic" grandeur cannot compete with
Mother Nature ~
The sands of time
Swamp and having
Possessed
Power on
~
The substance of human grandeur
Is only as strong as
The flow of wealth ~
Remove the Money River and
The Golden Willow
Dies
~

Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ A precious home
~
Just a few weeks ago
I saw an old man
At the front of his tiny home ~
He was standing before
A little crop of daffodils
Boldly weathering
The rough, stony soil
~
His face beamed with smiles ~
He seemed to be sailing a wave of delight
Known only to him
~
He turned to me
Just pointed to his gold
And clasped his hands in
The mode of prayer ~
I joined his smile ~
That's all he seemed to want ~
For then
He simply shuffled away
Down his pathway
~
I walked very slowly on ~
Thinking ~
Then walked slowly back and
Took a pic of his world ~
Just for the memory
~
I knew
I sensed ~
He had a delusion of grandeur that
Reached
Satisfied
The hungry soul
~
An oasis
Defying
The sands
~

6 comments:

Stan Ski said...

Whether it's a tiny shack, or a sprawling mansion, the pride we take in our homes can be regarded as a delusion of grandeur - but if you've spent your life working for something, then it's your right to regard it as special.

totomai said...

oh yes, its not the hugeness of one's properties can define what grandeur is all about. it can be easily wiped off by mother nature.

nice 2nd poem. liked how the way it unfolds. like reality

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Part of me still wants the showy mansion, of course. But the other part of me knows it's better to have the smaller house with the rocky soil that never fails to delight and never feels like a burden, the way a mansion can.

Awesome post!

Theresa @ Take A Sentimental Journey said...

I can just see this man gestering with his hands. Great post.

Thank you for stoppong by my blog.Please come again soon .

A Wild Thing said...

I love the little 'crop' of daffodils.
Knowing what you have and being content with that, no matter what level of grandeur, may be easy for some, but tragic for others...we know where I stand:)

sharon

anthonynorth said...

There's nothing wrong with working to own things as long as it doesn't get out of hand. And when it is the route to grandeur, we begin to see how sick we are.
It's all to do with moderation, I think.
Great poems and pics.

CALENDAR

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Archive of Blog Quotes

  • A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. ~James Dent
  • Autumn is an introspective season when stray thoughts of the mind dive into the mystique of the soul - Gemma Wiseman
  • Autumn is the bridesmaid of Summer and the flowergirl of Winter ~ Gemma Wiseman
  • Autumn whispers the tones of yesterday in a minor key ~ Gemma Wiseman
  • Love is born / With a dark and troubled face, / When hope is dead / And in the most unlikely place; / Love is born, / Love is always born. - Michael Leunig's Christmas Song Cycle "Southern Star"
  • Spring paints the stars of heaven in Earth colours ~ Gemma Wiseman
  • Summer sizzles with a sibilant hush / Broken by dreams of / Clinking ice ~ Gemma Wiseman
  • The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul. - G.K. Chesterton
  • Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. - Stanley Horowitz
  • Winter is the fire, simmering lonely in the soul ~ Gemma Wiseman
  • Winter is the shadow, the etching of the seasons in the mist ~ Gemma Wiseman

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