ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I'm delighted with the excellent poems that have come from my set of prompts this month - particularly the variety of topics. Thank you all!

I'm a day late - but here's my contribution - along similar lines to Terry.


SUMMER HOLIDAYS
(c) Shelley Hansen 2024

I well remember summer holidays at Grandpa's farm.
With school year done, the prospect was sheer bliss!
While city kids were sleeping in, we got the milking done.
True joy began for me on days like this!

We'd take our smoko, baked by Grandma - boil a billy tea
and wander to the paddock by the creek
where, shaded by the trees, we'd sit together on the grass
in happy silence, with no need to speak.

I'd stare in fascination at the tools in Grandpa's shed.
I loved to watch him work the whole day long.
He'd show me how to fix things as I sat, perched on a stool
and as he whistled, I would hum along.

When perfect days were over and the night was closing in,
a distant lightning flash would light the west.
I'd fall asleep to music drumming on the old tin roof -
the earthy smell of rain would soothe my rest.

Those days are gone, but even now, in sleep I wander back
transported by the gift of dreamland's gaze
to childhood's carefree moments when the wondrous world was mine
at Grandpa's farm on blissful summer days.

They really were our halcyon days weren't they. I think we were perhaps so much luckier than we ever realized - to a degree our generation were far more in tune with nature and the seasons, life, although always busy still had time for family interaction, and we came from a hands on - can do generation and so picked up that ethic as well. Today's kids don't seem to have the same freedoms and interactions that we did.
We may not have had much and certainly didn't have all the electronic gadgetry that our current generation do - but for all of that we were IMO a more grateful generation. Rarely bored, more grounded and connected, far less self indulgent and needy. Times were perhaps harder but as we knew no different it didn't worry us at all. We had the freedom to be kids.
So many memories bought back to mind by your lovely poem Shelley and all good ones

Hi Shelley
As Maureen said They were really special days for at least most children.
And you have told your story well, and taken us with you when taking Grandads smoko to him,
I've done much the same myself, all those tears ago.

Terry

Ah yes, plenty of memories there Shelley, and so well written.
I remember well the smokos with the billy tea, great fun as kids.
Also the rain on the iron roof, no such thing as insulation back then to soften the sound.
Cheers
Ron.

Just delightful, Shelley - wonderful, priceless memories that take us all back. I love 'the earthy smell of rain would soothe my rest'. I agree with what Maureen has said here, and this poem is a wonderful example of it!

Thanks so much, everyone - for your kind words.

Yes, they certainly were grand old days, with lots of memories - though it wasn't all at my Grandpa's farm. I remember farm days with my Mum's aunt and uncle, and also "tools in the shed" with another of Mum's uncles. That's the beauty of poetic licence - the memories can combine!

Cheers
Shelley