he sailed somewhere
one Saturday afternoon
I was just a child and watched
many cars arrive
headlights on
strange to see
streams of light
in light
he sailed somewhere
and I drifted
in seas
of silence
lonely silence
in high school years
I often dreamed beyond the classroom window
where there was a dam
the place where my father
often used to walk
my brother and I
it was all bush land round the dam in those days
and my dad gave us a regular taste of
a feeling for
other lives
but I had not been there
since the day of lights
I just watched
from the classroom
afar
till one day
I saw a white horse by the dam
standing quietly
beneath a tree
I watched
sensing a connection with
lonely beauty
it became a habit
each day
seeking the presence of
that white horse
sometimes he stayed awhile
sometimes he just wandered by
but always
I felt
connected
I left high school
thinking no more of
that white horse
not till I moved to Tasmania
there was a dam on my property
and a white horse
a lone white horse
roamed a farm
down the road
the dam was mine
the horse was not
suddenly
the white horse
disappeared
and not long afterwards
the dam was not mine either
I left Tasmania
my life broken
grudgingly
I moved to Melbourne
a need for money breeds
drastic action
and I lived in a small, not so pretty
rented
weatherboard house
not far from a main road
Blackburn was
hardly a place to find
grazing
white horses
but the road was called Whitehorse Road
in the region of
Whitehorse Council
for the first time
in some years
I smiled freely
again
and now
I live on the Mornington Peninsula
I journey to and from my school where I teach
past farmlands
and many dams
and many
white horses
yes
they appear and disappear
like good seasons and bad
but I have learnt to accept that
my journey
my pathway
is marked by
signs
special signs
the presence of
my angel
my white horse
my father
Linking to:
Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Calling All Angels
