Geoff Cochrane
Summer
If it might be said that you have
hopes and fears, would you say you
have more hopes than fears, or more
fears than hopes? Padget Powell
For summer seems always more or less sudden.
For the wild geranium is coral-pink.
For my little bit of a garden hasn't flourished.
For monarch butterflies enliven the morning.
For they do this silently, but silently.
For the birds out there look angular and fell.
For I'll be sixty next birthday.
For I haven't stopped smoking yet.
For the tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.
For Gerry has moved into his new pad.
For Moonbiscuit Smith is singing sweet and low.
For Moonbiscuit plays the ancient billabong.
For Gerry's yellow tuk-tu is dotted with tiny decals.
For people no longer read Jorge Luis Borges.
For summer's rusty gravels are enduring.
For summer's orange lichens are abiding.
