ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Still Life

© David Campbell, 25/09/17

She sets the easel firmly in the past,
the rolling hills a subtle shade of green,
remembering the way she saw it last,
a homestead in a peaceful rural scene
before the demons dressed in darkness came
to tear apart the life she’d always known,
and nothing then could ever be the same
in one locked room where she survives, alone.
But now the palette’s colours are unfurled
to paint what still lives on within her mind,
a vision of that gentler childhood world
and happiness that she has left behind,
a work in progress, one which yet may teach
“forever” is a dream within her reach.

Beautiful in its simplicity, David! Love it

Cheers
Shelley

Lovely poem. Makes me want to hug someone and say...Are you OK?

Thanks, Shelley and Wendy. Sonnets don't get much of a run in bush poetry...we usually write much longer pieces...but it's a valuable exercise having to discipline yourself to say something meaningful in only 14 lines.

Cheers
David

Yes indeed, David.

I have loved sonnets since I first discovered them in my early teens - but it took me till I was about 45 years old to write one that I was happy with. They might look simple - and their beauty is in their simplicity - but that same simplicity is very deceptive!

When it came to achieving difficult things with apparent ease, my Mum used to always use the analogy of the acrobatic circus clown - he has to be an expertly trained acrobat before he can create the illusion of making it all look easy and fun.

Cheers
Shelley

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this David - a poignant sonnet, beautifully crafted with every word punching above its weight. You have totally captured the feeling as well, that I hoped the prompts and the picture would spark. Well done you