Respite

For this moment
I have slipped away from the silly season –
Gladly, Joyously, Peacefully –
side-stepping towards stillness,
while the human world whirrs ever faster
on a not-so-merry merry-go-round.

In this other place I linger long enough to notice
the many insects that come to drink
from nectar filled blossoms adorning
outstretched branches of the Prickly Tea-Tree
like a mantle of snow.
Birds sing merrily between aerial hunts
for these flitting insects.
Skinks sunning themselves along the path
scurry away as I walk past.

Here the trees are living and free of tinsel and fairy-lights.
The mountains are made of stone and soil
and last eons longer than the presents
that are unwrapped in a moments glee
and then relegated to the shelves
of already overflowing cupboards.

Let me tarry a while longer in this living, bountiful place
with sunshine, wind and the cleansing smell of bushland.