ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

One Man’s Treasure

Out in an arid place I know lie treasures left there long ago;
an old ghost town I guess you’d say, though not a building still remains.
Among the piles of rusty cans are knives and forks and pots and pans;
all sorts of things used years before, lie scattered on those windswept plains.

It’s mostly junk I hear you say; just rubbish from a bygone day,
and yet to me there’s much, much more, for those who care to look around.
Rare bottles hidden in the scrub around what once had been a pub,
along with worn out picks and spades, that lay abandoned on the ground.

There’s silver spoons now tarnished black from years exposed to sun outback,
and English coins are often found here hidden in the deep red soil.
A horse shoe still adorned with nails that long before tramped dusty trails,
back in those days when dreams of gold, induced these folk to sweat and toil.

Then as you dawdle slowly on your mind drifts to a time long gone,
and there’s a sense of history that’s etched into these relics here.
Beside a bush a rusty toy no doubt once treasured by a boy,
yet sadly in the years ahead all this will slowly disappear.

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© T.E. Piggott

A good flow there Terry, I reckon, You have got the relaxed conversation manner of nostalgic contemplation.
Well done I think.

Nicely done Terry - I like the picture you paint with you words. Good to see you having a shot at the homework and making good use of the prompts. Well done

I like this one Terry and as Maureen says you paint a nice picture. It is so lovely to be out there in the bush and wondering just who has tread that ground before you. The fragments of life you mention do make it so much more fascinating.
Nice!
Dot

Thanks Neville, Maureen & Dot

Hi Neville, I can spend hours poking around some of those old town sites.
Perhaps some of the relaxed atmosphere you find at such places has crept in here - thanks for the comment.

G/day Maureen, it's always good to see something (like your prompts) that stirs the little grey cells (as Hercule says) into action.

Hi Dot, you're right there's nothing like the peace of the bush to get the mind wondering at what might have transpired long before, when you stumble onto places like this.

Cheers and thanks again.

Terry

I really like this one Terry - and I must say, I enjoy your style of writing in general. I'm particularly fond of "Out on the Western Shore" - which if I remember, was a winner of yours a couple of years ago.

Back to the present - I can relate to discovering treasures in and around historical sites. To me they are more than just junk. I think of the people who used those silver spoons. I imagine their conversations around the dinner table, what they looked like, how they laughed and loved.

I guess that is what poetry is all about

Cheers, Shelley

Thanks Shelly,
There's something special isn't there in visiting these old sites?
You would love the West Aussie goldfields Shelly, with so many of these remains of old towns scattered through the often remoter
parts of WA
Like you I get a sense as though I'm briefly stepping back into the past, and speaking for myself, my mind often wanders off as I imagine what it was like when these bits and pieces were in daily use.

Cheers Terry

Great poem Terry - I can see that 'arid place' and all its treasures thanks to the images you've painted with your words. Like you and Shelly I always enjoy stepping into the past and pondering all those people who have gone before - it is endlessly fascinating

Thanks Catherine

Nothing wrong with setting the mind free to do a bit of daydreaming.

Cheers terry

You're right Terry - I would love it! My husband and I have our caravan - and that big trip over to the West is definitely on our agenda

Cheers, Shelley