Lunch at Mt Tomah

Tired, flat and worn, I curl to recuperate,
my back to the world, my horns pulled in.
Just to lie here is enough, don't ask more of me.
But plans have been made and duty calls,
I ready myself slowly and follow along.

Dull in conversation, I let others talk,
I take in the view, study my knife and fork.
What to eat? I can barely lift the menu.
Salad shouldn't require too much cutting,
chewing or digesting. I wait for a plate of greens.

Delicious food eaten slowly allows us to
watch the afternoon light change the
wide landscape that fills our vantage point.
We sit back in our chairs while the teens lay
plans to explore every track and trail.

In good time, we wander to a shady lie.
I ease to half-sleep—merge with earth and sky.

Dinner at Mt Banks

Truly, there was not a breath of wind
until I wrote that line.
Now the dry grasses stir faintly
and the finer leaves shiver.

Hanging scimitars of gum leaves
clip the blue sky into
jagged patches.
Even tough banksias shift now and then.

All is peaceful except for the
screeching of that black cockatoo
high in a distant tree.
This must be feeding time
and the juvenile has not eaten as well as me.

Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens are in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

Mt Banks is part of the Blue Mountains National Park

One of my readers said --

What really made my day is your lovely "Lunch at Mt. Tomah".

Gurl! this is awesome ... I don't know why, but especially the first three lines make my heart jump with recognition.....lemme think a bit on why those lines are so familiar ....

Mt. Tomah is an excellent poem from my point of view. You know the feeling when your heart is about to burst with that feeling of happiness, joy.....when the rest of the world really doesn't matter.....

Somewhere in a tour I sometimes ride, there is a dark and very steep path winding through an oak and beech wood ... at the end of that path, on the top of the hill, the woods suddenly end and, with the field beneath you, you can look over the valley and into the next....

Usually I'm really exhausted after that climb and I drop into the high grass, curl up and just enjoy the sun ... the mind-emptying feeling of exhaustion ... sheer happiness.

MD