Xmas Down Under
snow flakes and icy sleet are
foreign to our sun parched souls
cracked with blinding intensity
and ferocious heat
we awake to cicadas
screeching under electric blue sky
burning the ear drums while our
heads reel intoxicated with the heavy scent
of eucalypts and traffic fumes
last shopping days to Xmas
most of us live near a white sandy beach
where our tired dusty thoughts are rinsed
in aqua sea green cooled by a soft breeze
lots of families lunch at the beach on Xmas Day
and if you live on the west coast you might be
lucky enough to see le rayon vert through
salt encrusted eyelashes just as the sun
slips under the horizon
According to Jules Verne ..if you see 'le rayon vert' the green flash which happens just as the sun is slipping under the horizon it gives you an insight into your true self.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been a shock for the first European settlers in Australia to have their seasons inverted - white Christmas, now, but on a beach. A lovely presentation of the inversion to those of us who have never experienced it.
ReplyDeleteI like your sound image of the cicadas, I love cicadas screeching, but I'm glad not to have to take the eucalyptus/gasoline mixed ambiance with it.
Very evocative, rallentanda.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Paul!
ReplyDeleteHi Rall,
ReplyDeleteI've experienced your stiffling heat on Christmas Day, only to be followed by 18 days of rain! I love the scent of eucalyptus but will let you keep the traffic fumes. Have a lovely day on the beach and I'll try not to be green!
Joyeaux Noel
How I wish I was baking myself on one of your beaches! So many great descriptions of life on your side of the world. Merry Christmas, Rall! If I am still among the living I will contact you soon!
ReplyDeleteWonderful imagery!
ReplyDeleteI haven't really considered a Christmas spent like this, but it does sound fun.
ReplyDeleteI like your word choices, the flow and cadence of this poem.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Down with the tyranny that insists that Christmas must be snow and ice! Thanks for this poem.
ReplyDeletei love this tactile poem. cicadas, eucalyptus, and salt encursted eyelashes are fabulous.
ReplyDeleteLovely one! Merry Christmas
ReplyDeleteThankyou for all your comments.Well it's Christmas night here in Sydney...blowing up a gale,been grey and raining today with severe flood warnings and the tail end of a cyclone for the north west slopes and plains where I was supposed to be today.This weather is very unusual and I hope that Derrick has nothing to do with this.
ReplyDeleteEven so Christmas has been lovely and I even went for a swim in the harbour today in the rain which was great . We celebrate Christmas eve with the big dinner and then to midnight mass.
Tomorrow is the Sydney to Hobart yacht race so regardless of the weather( bad weather is predicted for 4 days)we are walking up the road to see the yachts sail out of the heads.
You are all probably sitting down to Christmas lunch now watching the snow softly fall outside . I am going to have a white Christmas one year.Enjoy!
Happy holidays Rall......10 below here in the mountains but beeeeeeeeeeeutiful sunny day with lots of snow to snowshoe in.....thanks for your poem
ReplyDelete@ Zek's kid
ReplyDeleteI want snow and ice for Xmas ,just like in the real world!
I like your rich tribute to Christmas - so rich in colors other than red and green (and white). I know how out of tune with the yule season I was my first Christmas in California - with an orange tree bearing ripe fruit in front of my house. Your poem brought back those memories.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Californians had hot
ReplyDeleteChristmas weather.I don't suppose you have ripe orange trees in Germany but you do have
brilliant chamber orchestras there which I would love to see.Lucky Ducky...Merry Xmas Wanda!
The news yesterday showed Sydney's beach crowded for Christimas, and I wondered if you were out splashing in the surf. Figure that the weather doesn't matter--it's the loot.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful take on "inversion." I especially like the sensory images -- and the last lines, the salt-encrusted lashes filtering le rayon vert is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteBriarcat..Sydney has a lot of beaches both surf and harbour.I don't like crowds .There are
ReplyDeleteloads of tourists here escaping the northern winter so I am always out of town this time of year...except there is a weather warning not to go at the moment.Next week I should be in the bush.
So no I wasn't on tv at Bondi Beach.I live near a little harbour beach called Camp Cove which was the first landing place of the British bringing the first lot of convicts to Australia. That's my local swimming hole and I surf at Bronte beach .So there's the geography lesson for today..Merry Xmas and stop ambushing the poor postman with snowballs!
Wonderful word pictures here. And, let's face it, a certain amount of envy is felt within this reader. A lovely read.
ReplyDeleteNo need to be envious Tumblewords...warm but grey, overcast and rain but good forecast for Sydney tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThe Tumbleweed Connection by Elton John is an old favourite.We also have a friend who has a property called Tumble Downs.
There is a hill on the way to the Northern Beaches called Tumble Down Dick Hill.I'm just a fount of snippets of Tumble info.
I love the description in this, "electric blue sky" , "le rayon vert through salt encrusted eyelashes just as the sun slips under". Very evocative, and however antithetical to expectations such climate it might be I am quite envious right about now.
ReplyDeleteYou made me want to leave frozen Ohio even more with this poem -- growing up in Arizona spoiled me. I like how vivid and descriptive this piece is. Well done. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.
ReplyDeletesalt encrusted eyelashes-lovely
ReplyDelete-ah, to dream of the sea! beautiful poetry!
-Roberta