a bridge

a bridge
             sydney 1999

Not as visible as in my day. but still a presence….

the road i took from school
showed a dark hill above the
cut of pine on the golf course
this road seemed to make
straight for.
our school our house
on a peninsula
that hill in fact
the mount of a volcano
raised in midharbour.
in the afternoon
when we were let go
it played this trick
of being where it was not
acting the part of a hill
amazing me to
the point of
dream
dreaming of walking through
those pines through gorse

off the leash

off the leash
17 may 2021
pakuranga plaza

The Weathercats snapped them, but could not catch them…

obedient in green
a summer long,
by autumn
tanked up
on colours,
the leaves are
off the leash,
tippey-toed
on asphalt,
running giddy
in sun,
crumpling
the wind to
standstill

Copyright © 2021 Peter Le Baige.  All Rights Reserved

The music is from the second of the ‘Drei Stücklein’ (Three Small Pieces) from the album of piano pieces ‘Bunte Blätter’ {Colored Leaves} by Robert Schumann.

katsura river

katsura river

kyoto/tokyo
1994

Acknowledgements for use of this image of the Katsura river to earthtrekkers.com

the river
smooth as stone
an evening green
veining the shallows
tree-dark
the river swiftens on.

after the boats are tethered
vagrant dreams
knocking against the
		low wood.

after the rowers are gone
in small restaurants shifting against
		the low tables
the day over carried in the rice
		      its glaze
saké turning the mind over at the
				      lip.

after the gardens turn out our eyes
bent  in night  aside of the pruning
				hand.

after night takes the surface in
a faint grip of streetlight
the river runs on

deeper in mind.

mind gone
the river running on.
				

Copyright ©2016 Peter Le Baige.  All Rights Reserved

The music is from track 4 ‘Edo Lullaby (shakuhachi, shamisen, biwa, koto, bells)’ from the album’ Japan (Traditional Vocal & Instrumental Music)’ recorded by the Soloists Of The Ensemble Nipponia