Sunday, January 23, 2011

Are We There Yet?

Another bored boy!

CARRY ON TUESDAY
http://carryontuesdayprompt.blogspot.com/
The words in blue are well-known!

ARE WE THERE YET?

It wasn't a case of 'Are we there yet?'
It was a case of 'Here we are!'
The problem was we were far from there yet,
And Greg was cooped up in the car.
We'd only just arrived in Australia;
It was 1974,
And a long, long drive through the open bush
Was, for him, an awful bore.
He was only four and too restricted,
The journey was way, way, way too long,
Though we tried to shorten it with stories
And, now and then, a little song.
We were on our way to the town of Orange
In New South Wales but way inland,
And the journey seemed to go on for ever.......
This was Australia, understand.
Now I think the name Orange was linked with the Netherlands,
'The House of Orange' and history.
Orange itself was a centre for cherries
(As it is to this day, quite famously.)
The trouble was we kept seeing oranges,
Groves of them growing on every side,
Gorgeous fruit hanging in the sunshine,
And whenever we saw them Gregory cried
'Here we are! This is Orange! Stop the car!
Let's get out! Don't keep on driving!
Look! This is Orange! See the Oranges!'
He was obsessed with arriving!
Hour after hour we drove through the countryside;
Poor little Greg was pinned to his seat!
But oh what joy when Orange came into view
And we all had great bowls of cherries to eat!
*
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 
FIRST FLASH!

I do wish I'd seen the first firework.
I wish I'd been there at the start.
When the first one went ZIP!
I'd have done a back-flip
And felt a great jolt in my heart.
*
These days we are so used to fireworks
That we feel no amazing surprise
We may shout out a 'Yay!'
Or in Spain an 'Olay!'
As we gaze at the feast in the skies,
*
But we know what a firework will look like
Before the first fuse has been lit.
The great balls of fuzz
May give us a buzz
But we don't all collapse in a fit!
*
It is said that a cook in old China
Started messing with bits of bamboo
He then packed it tight
And set all alight,
The Saltpeter and black Charcoal too.
*
Whatever possesssed him to do it?
He must have leapt up in the air
When the whole thing went 'BOOM!'
And scattered the room
Causing damage beyond all repair!
*
Yes! I wish that I'd seen the first firework,
And that look of indignant surprise.
But, at my insistance,
I'd have watched from a distance
While not really believing my eyes!
*

3 comments:

keiths ramblings said...

LOve the story of your journey - I guess its based on fact. And as for the picture...!

Shail Raghuvanshi said...

Loved the narration and the poetry Brenda...

Kodjo Deynoo said...

Always the beautiful storey teller