When beauty is this given thing, when the sun warms
The skin tightens like arms of the gum tree
Muscle builds in delicate strands forged by the sea.
When life is full and mind so clear with the heart
that it folds into cleansing, glacier blue.
The tree, lively shade from scorching beams
and a den from the falling rain, clothes
shed like bark, strips hanging, moving in the
wind.
Community tightened by the blessings but strained
by the demands and isolation, the gaps levelled
by the wave.
Out of the water feelings turn over
like fruit fermenting for the cacophony of bats.
A camp for foxes with their arms stretched wide
or tightly cocooned in their village slumber.
The birds din the town like a sound track for the vale.
Mixed beats quickly strumming the pulse of life.
Verdant greens call so close a wealth of nectar's
promise. Enter here
to become amber.
A bead of time, nosed by a passing whale, the eye
of a dolphin the sting of a ray.
So lyrical the scene, so urgent the play, the sport a perfection
of the body and mind. A dancing seen on display.
Small rides of performance art, seeking a bettering, a being, Being
a part of this great big thing this paradise found on this
throbbing grain.
Returning with hearts full, squashed by wet and grey
Full fires of joy defended by mind's memories
and attacked by the onslaught of warriors of worry
fed by the cold mists and relentless storms from a saturated earth and interminable skies.
The need to create, to fold into the sights, to feed into this world to translate,
to make, to hold onto the rays, the colour and joy. To be the lamp
in the cave.
Chloë Tinsley