Tags
Arboretum, Australian babblers, Australian honey-eaters, Australian poet, Azure Kingfisher, Bicheno finch, Brush Box Tree, Bunya Pine, Crested dove, Double-bar finch, Formal poetry, Gum trees, Illawarra flame tree, kookaburra, Owl-faced finch, poem, poetry, Silky Oak, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, Spotted Gum, tea tree
Forest
Around my arboretum take a tour:
A Bunya Pine where owl-faced finches nest —
They buzz and beep. A flash as an azure
Kingfisher dives. A dusky dove with crest
And wings displayed puffs out his dappled chest,
There with his mate high in a silky oak.
Two kookaburras in a tall gum rest;
They chuckle quietly at a private joke.
Amongst the fallen leaves grey babblers poke
And prod the ground for insects. Lipstick-red,
Each flame tree wears its brilliant fiery cloak.
By spotted gum, tea tree and box we tread,
And marvel at the life the forest brings.
High overhead, a honeyeater sings.
— D.N. O’Brien
{Photo – D.N. O’Brien}