Cockatoos/Hiemal

Brenda Bryant

Cockatoos  photographed in the Dandenong State Forest.


COCKATOOS

The yellow sign had dazzled our eyes

With something of a harsh surprise.

'Feed the Cockatoos' it said....

They were waiting to be fed.

For  'Dandenongs' read 'greenery',

With all the gum-trees' subtlety.

This notice  bugled its advice;

We read it once, we read it twice.

We moved on, and the cockatoos

Surrounded us and shrieked their news......

That green and white are  dominating.

Whatever  man may try creating.

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(For Jenny Matlock)

HIEMAL

I here present an illustration,

Showing a hiemal situation.

I could have shown you a snowy scene,

Where white has overtaken green.

I could have shown a cosy room

With, outside, a world of gloom.

I could have shown some sleeting rain

Sweeping down a leafless lane.

These would have all been representations

Of very hiemal situations.

But I chose Romanians in the sea

In, not August, but January!

They are swimming under the ice

Very much against my advice!

For hiemal means 'Wintry', so I'm told.

Hiemal means ice and snow and cold.

Of all the words I could have chosen,

My 'H' word is shivery and frozen.
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