Holidays

I swear I didn’t raise my kids differently; they just turned out nothing like each other.  Maybe it’s a gender thing. 

Anyway, I’ve decided to take them to Bali this year, their first overseas holiday.  We are looking through the brochures together.  There are photographs of our hotel, jungle adventures and palm trees.  The mood of excitement is palpable and my eleven year old daughter exclaims, “Wow, Dad – elephants!”

Barely have the words passed her lips than my 13 year old son, in tones equally ecstatic, cries, “Wow, Dad – cable TV!”

Shark

There is a shark in our river

 

Below the surface of things

He swims where people feign

No memory of him.

 

Yachts capsize and sailors

Strike towards the shore

Legs kicking into the darkness

And the chill.

 

At Point Walter

Children swim

And laugh at dolphins

 

A man watches from the tree line.

He walks towards them humming.

Past the old people doing Tai Chi

Pushing gently

At the helpless sunshine.