Poems (Forrest)/Queensland woods
QUEENSLAND WOODS
Woods are such lovely things! The sheeny bean,The cypress pine that tells on windy evesIts scented story to the summer rain;And silky-oak wherein the fairies wroteTheir alphabet a hundred years ago;The shelly paleness of the dainty pine,Bloodwood and box and ripe mahogany:I sometimes think these modest pantry-shelves,These grand pianos, and these polished floors,These office chairs, these shiny roll-top desks,If we could hear them, could make us a bookOf things extraordinary, that the nightHas leaned to whisper down the rustling darkTo the frail crests of heaven-seeking things.What violins of wings the boughs have known!What little joyous feathered roundelays!The woven nests, the home of sticks and mud,Or plaited cosy corners of the birds;The palpitating possum on the branch,Hearing far off the threat of dogs and men,Has clawed his fear into the bleeding bough;The parrot preened the glory of his wing;The bronze-wing pigeon cooed his spring-tide tale;The grey dove moaned o'er lost, forgotten things.White winter rains have beaten on the leaves;Drought has pressed down the sap in dying twigs; Bush-fires have scorched the silver bark and sentA long wild shuddering horror through the green.The brown surveyor's axe has cut a shield-The curling bark makes haste to heal again-Small ficus plants have climbed, with emerald coins.Plastering a grizzled trunk, and flowering vinesHave decked the grimmest boles to carnival.On moonlit nights the hamadryads come,Their bodies white as milk, their tresses redAs autumn leaves in older lands than ours;And gum-tree goblins, and a thousand elvesOf earth and star make merry in the trees.And the trees listen, weaving in their grainThis tale of fleeting moons and lingering dawns,And roseate feathers of sunsetting, wreathedAbout the brim of low, mist-ribboned hills.
The plainest unscrubbed board a kitchen holds,If you could heed, may have a tale of kings!And when you hear it creaking in the night,Who knows but that it is rememberingThe way the wind came leaping from the seaTo find a frolic welcome in the bough!