Dark Beauty

Tags

Agelessness, Australian poet, Australian traditional poetry, Dark Beauty, Formal poetry, Lasting beauty, poem, poetry, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, The Evening Star, Venus

𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲

{For Helen}

Dark Beauty, how is it you never change?
Should not your beauty fade as years go by?
Whilst I grow old, I find it somewhat strange
That time’s accursed attrition you defy.
But still of course your beauty you deny —
What this admirer spies you do not see.
But be assured, his eyes they never lie,
And surely would discerning eyes agree.
It’s true, and yet a mystery to me —
A very pleasant one; how is it so,
That loveliness so lasts — how can it be?
You cannot tell me, for you do not know.
Perhaps, Dark Beauty, that is why you are
As everlasting as the evening star.

— D.N. O’Brien

{Photo — D.N. O’Brien}

The Good Fight

Tags

Australian poet, Formal poetry, Labor lose in Australian election 2019, LNP win Australian Federal election 2019, poem, poetry, Scott Morrison Prime Minister of Australia, Triolet

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

The good fight we have fought, and we have won!
The Reds are bloodied and their chief has fled!
Our celebrations have barely begun!
The good fight we have fought, and we have won!
We’ll drink until the rising of the sun;
For any doubts we’d win we’ve put to bed!
The good fight we have fought, and we have won!
The Reds are bloodied and their chief has fled!

— D.N. O’Brien

Vale Bob Hawke

Tags

Australian Labor Party, Australian poet, Bob Hawke dies, Bob Hawke former Prime Minister, Formal poetry, Malcolm Fraser, poem, poetry, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, Vale Bob Hawke

Vale Bob Hawke

I voted for you Bob, the only time
I’ve voted for your party, I admit.
I thought it, way back then, a bloody crime
To vote for Fraser — what a pompous twit!
I liked what you stood for and yes, your wit.
You brought the unions into line; you tried
With some success the warring sides to knit —
You tried for peace. Although the gap was wide
You pulled it off. Oh yes, you turned the tide,
I’ll give you that. You made mistakes it’s true,
And I recall that once or twice you cried.
Now a pretender and his motley crew
Have risen up — but Bob they’re not the same;
To say they are — that just insults your name.

— D.N. O’Brien

Bob Hawke Dies

Bill Kebab

Tags

Australian Federal Election 2019, Australian poet, Bill Shorten Labor Leader, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, poem, poetry

Bill Kebab

He’s the Bill that no one can afford.
For the facts sneaky Bill has ignored.
Oh he is such a dill!
And I’m hoping he will,
When he loses, fall on his small sword.

— D.N. O’Brien

Bill’s Bandits

Tags

Australian Federal Election 2019, Australian poet, Australian traditional poetry, Franking Credit theft by Labor, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, Opposition leader Bill Shorten, poem, poetry

𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥’𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐬

No one wants to be poor when they’re old,
But these thieves have their eyes on your gold.
You may not have a lot,
But you’d best vote for Scott,
If your wish is to keep what you hold.

— D.N. O’Brien

Bill’s Fluid Faith(s)

Tags

Australian Federal Election 2019, Australian poet, Bill Shorten Labor Leader, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, poem, poetry

𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥’𝐬 𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐢𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡(𝐬)

Tell us Bill, what religion are you?
“I’m a Christian, a Buddhist, a Jew;
I’m a Muslim some days,
And I like Hindu ways —
It depends on who I’m talking to.”

— D.N. O’Brien

Bill the Christian/Agnostic/Atheist/Whatever….

Tags

Australian Federal Election 2019, Australian poet, Bill Shorten attacks PM's faith, Bill Shorten Labor Leader, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, poem, poetry, Scott Morrison Australian Prime Minister

Bill the Christian/Agnostic/Atheist/Whatever…

“Oh dear! What’s that sulphurous smell?”
Says Bill — “Can’t you smell it as well?”
Scott’s faith’s been abused,
And God’s not amused —
I think Bill is headed for Hell.

— D.N. O’Brien

Bill Shorten attacks Scott’s faith

Que Sera

Tags

Australian poet, Doris Day, Doris Day dies, Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff, epigram, Movie Star, poem, poetry, Singer

𝐐𝐮𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐚

The world’s a poorer place today —
I see it in each aged face.
Has passed, a star of yesterday,
And there’s no one to take her place.

— D.N. O’Brien

A Pack of Pesky Poets

Tags

Australian convicts, Australian Federal Election 2019, Australian Greens, Australian poet, Bill Shorten Labor Leader, Formal poetry, Gulag, King brown snake, Microbus, poem, poetry, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, Transportation

𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐞𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐏𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐬

If Labor and the Greens happen to win,
What happens to the poets of the right?
Will Bill just take our punches on the chin?
More likely, we will be removed from sight.
To some place where our works won’t see the light —
A gulag in the gum trees way out west,
Where hot sun sears, flies swarm, and king browns bite.
Just tucked away, away from all the rest,
Out where the dingos howl and eagles nest.
We’ll be transported, like in days of old.
They’ll tell the people it is for the best,
For we write evil words. (Or so they’re told.)
They’ll need to transport every one of us;
I estimate they’ll need a microbus.

— D.N. O’Brien.

Mother

Tags

Australian poet, Formal poetry, Mother's Day, poem, poetry, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet

𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫

With every new day’s dawn I think of you.
Of you and Dad, and too, my brother Dan.
You’re gone and so are they — our days are few;
But with those days we do the best we can.
That’s what you always taught us. For a span
And twenty years and one, you lived your life,
And many times it didn’t go to plan —
When disappointment stabbed just like a knife,
You bore the pain, the hardship, and the strife.
A city girl who loved a soldier boy,
When peace broke out became a farmer’s wife.
I think of long gone days and our shared joy,
And all I really wanted here to say,
Was Mother, have a happy Mother’s Day.

— D.N. O’Brien