Happenstance

Driving home from Weldborough
Taking the back road at the top of the Pass,
The air was thick with moisture
Misty rain was delicate, but didn't last.

The mist started to clear on descent
Past the quarry and over Crystal Creek,
The trees were glistening with raindrops
As the low cloud clung to the peaks.

Then suddenly I was startled by an Emu
That shot out from the old Liberator mine,
It charged off in front of the car
Its legs strutting long and in perfect time.

But the Tasmanian Emu is extinct
What was it doing up here.
No camera to record the incident
No one will believe me, I swear.

The Emu legged it at break neck pace
Forty kilometers as I descended downhill,
Glancing its head I caught its eye
But it run on with an Emu's will.

Crossing over the swift running Groom
It skidded right into the old bridge track,
Then doubled back up the hill behind me
It stood to catch its breath as I walked back.

As I moved closer it crossed the river
Into the bush from whence it came,
An escaped pet I wagered as I got into the car
Continuing home as it started to rain.


Ian Matthews.

Happenstance

All of life is a happenstance
From the first day of breath
We meet and mingle, fall in and out
Of contacts, til our death.

A birthday celebration seals the fate
A troubled call to triple 0 -
Dealing with other families
Bloomsday cheerios.

Births, deaths, divorce and marriage
Act as the humanist glue -
Humans, like atoms, buzzing about
Upon the planet so blue.

The world revolves in chaotic theory
No order with a God.
Divine providence and destiny here?
Just too many peas in a pod!

Kym Matthews
14th August 2009.