Hemispheres of Happiness

Old friend, that shot is picture perfect. Your place (The Gebbie Compound)

is indeed heaven on a hill. You did a fine job in planning and execution. I'm

so happy for you and your lovely wife, you guys deserve what you have created.

 

Old son, I think we both have found what we have looked for all our lives.

Damn good on us! They say; "Good things do come to those that wait".

(Sure, as long as we work bloody hard to get it while we wait.) What we have

earned and our kids make old age bearable.

 

Steve

 

A perfect, cold and frosty mid-winters day. Air is biting crisp, sun, warm on my back. Old Egmont towers behind the house gleaming with pristine snow and ice. The tui’s are cavorting in the trees sucking nectar from the early fuchia flowers with their long curved beaks, a flash of green iridescence as they fluff their neck feathers. Mother is cooking something great in the kitchen, she is about to call me in for hot coffee and cake….Life is great Stevo, could not be better.

 

Like minds-different hemispheres-same world.

 

 

But for starlight, the night is black, no moon

on the rise. My porch a stage to the music of

crickets and frogs in the summer grass. A gentle

breeze touches me like a lover in the dark, caressingly

cool in my July heat of peaceful repose.

 

The scents of gardenias and honeysuckle drift

in on the currents and far off up the hill a Coyote

calls to his friends. Cooing night birds mummer.

 

The barn cats come to join me, silent and careful.

One onto my lap, the other to lay down beside my

chair. Soon the purring of a feline mixes with the

music of the grass and the air. Together we all peer

out into the peaceful void, perhaps thinking the same

thoughts, living fine, being in the moment. 

 

These small perfect bits of time come and go. If only

I could string them all together, like rubies on a chain,

what a priceless necklace they would make and yet,

they cost me nothing and once collected, are not for sale.

Author's Note

Exchange between two old codgers situated in opposite hemispheres, in opposite seasons, but with a remarkably similar take on the quality of their individual lot in life.

Reviews

[Marie]

This all sounds great. These small, perfect bits of time can be collected in a poem and last forever.

[Dean Kuch®]

Being an 'Old Codger' myself, I just had to read this and was not disappointed in doing so! I enjoyed the unique style and the dialog you chose between these two friends. A very endearing read indeed!