Poetry Page

[BarbStAubrey]

A Winter Myth Join Us! It's the Season for Winter Poetry Famous Poets and Poems about Winter Link to: Winter Poems Discussion Leaders: Barb & fairanna

The Miracle ~ Barbara Winkler Every gardener knows      that under the cloak of winter      lies a miracle ... A seed waiting to sprout, A bulb opening to the light, A bud straining to unfurl.   And the anticipation  Nurtures our dream.

[fairanna]

What wonderful poems to share ...ah yes  books were and still are my friends....what lonely nights and days I would have had except for books  They took me to far places , long before I ever saw them...so when I was there if was like I was visiting a friend..and thankfully enjoyed them twice as much........One of the books I purchased this winter was Rainwater by Sandra Brown....I will not tell you one word from it but I have read it 3 times this winter..and each time I have wept...Yes it is sad but also a wonderful reminder of my husband ...knowing the man in the story could have been him.

and poetry aways took me somewhere ,to the past, to the future, to gardens when mine were bleak from cold or too  much heat..[joyful, sad , singing , there is no emotion that you cant find in poetry....in brings you snowflakes in summer and bees and flowers in the dark days of winter... writing is one of the best gifts God gave us....God bless and pray this New Year will be one of the best....ever, anna

[roshanarose]

Interesting comments.  About Poseidon - I know that he can be an implacable foe when braving the sea and he certainly gave Odysseus a terrible journey back to Ithaca.  I wonder if he is also the God of Floods?  The extent of the floods in north-west Queensland is, simply, unimaginable.  Cavafy would be able to imagine the unimaginable in his verse.  For me, and others here, the water that brings life, also brings destruction and heartbreak.  The farmers have been waiting many moons for rain to come as the land has been drought-stricken.  Ironic that their crops have been ruined by the water they prayed for.  Yes.  Barbara, Queensland does know about the wrath of gods.

What I have noticed with Cavafy is that he "sticks to his story", so to speak.  He writes with the economy of words that I appreciate. The darkest poem of his, imho, is "The City".  Η Πόλη.  This is not a pretty poem.  To me the idea of not being able to escape oneself is dark indeed. 

THE CITY

You said: “I’ll go to another country, go to another shore,
find another city better than this one.
Whatever I try to do is fated to turn out wrong
and my heart lies buried as though it were something dead.
How long can I let my mind moulder in this place?
Wherever I turn, wherever I happen to look,
I see the black ruins of my life, here,
where I’ve spent so many years, wasted them, destroyed them totally.”
 
You won’t find a new country, won’t find another shore.
This city will always pursue you. You will walk
the same streets, grow old in the same neighborhoods,
will turn gray in these same houses.
You will always end up in this city. Don’t hope for things elsewhere:
there is no ship for you, there is no road.
As you’ve wasted your life here, in this small corner,
you’ve destroyed it everywhere else in the world.

Cavafy borrows from "The Classical Tradition".  When I read this poem, I always think it is about Alkibiades.

[Babi]

 You're so right, BARB. It seems like all cultures envision their 'heaven' as being what they value most. I don't think it speaks particularly well of us that the West thinks 'gold' and 'pearls'. The desert peoples ideal of a heaven of fountains and gardens sounds better to me.

 "For the Shop" makes me a little sad. I hate to think of beautiful things being locked away where no one can enjoy their beauty.

"..there is no emotion that you cant find in poetry.."

  Right there, ANNA, I think you have the reason poetry has so much to offer us.

[Gumtree]

beautiful according to his taste,
to his desire, his vision—

Babi:  Isn't the poet saying that it's the craftman's taste and vision and only his - he knows the customers won't appreciate them which is why he brings out more commonplace things for them. He's also reiterating  that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder - that one man's meat is another man's poison. Perhaps too there is an implied element of 'art for art's sake'

[BarbStAubrey]

Gumtree and Babi, there are so many ways to imagine a poem aren't there - yes, it could be the act of protecting something precious that he does not believe his clients would understand the  intricacies as only a craftsman can - there could also be this concept of personal ownership as many who purchase the paintings of great masters for their own enjoyment rather than to placing them in an art Gallery or Museum for the enjoyment by many - or another, since it is a Shop he may feel he needs to sell whatever he makes available to the viewing and buying public and he does not want to sell this specially crafted work of art -  and still another. is it simply his gift to his shop much as store owners will frame the first paper money they bring in when they first opened the front doors to their establishment. The difference - he trades in jewels that have far more value than a tailored suit or a wax candle.

It could also be our way of looking at jewels - there was a receptionest in one of the offices I associated with back in the mid 90s  who was Jewish and when there was much hew haw in the press of a small plane crash in which one of the Jewish passangers had a pocket full of diamonds suggesting they were smugglers she tut tut-ed all over the office saying, doesn't anyone know anything - are they all dumber than boards - that many Jewish men buy and sell jewels - and many Jewish men carry around a pocket full of jewels because it is the safest place to keep them so as not to alert the public.

And so, what we think is so valuable and what we would never think is caught among the pennies, ticket stubs and crumbs in pants pockets could be a folded paper holding thousands of dollars worth of jewels. Our jeweler in the poem could be focused only on his achieved craftsmenship and the colored depths of the stones without seeing the dollar value of his raw material as more than the eggs and butter of his creation.

Change - but is it - according to what we value - however, do y'all remember this one from your childhood or versing it aloud to your children...

Hiding
          ~ by Dorothy Keeley Aldis

I'm hiding, I'm hiding
And no one knows where;
For all they can see is my
Toes and my hair

And I just heard my father
Say to my mother -
"But, darling, he must be
Somewhere or other;

Have you looked in the inkwell?"
And Mother said, "Where?"
"In the INKWEL?"said Father. But
I was not there.

Then "Wait!" cried my mother —
"I think that I see
Him under the carpet." But
It was not me.

"Inside the mirror's
A pretty good place."
Said Father and looked, but saw
Only his face.

"We've hunted," sighed Mother,
"As hard as we could
And I am so afraid that we've
Lost him for good."

Then I laughed out aloud
And I wiggled my toes
And Father said —"Look, dear,
I wonder if those

Toes could be Benny's?
There are ten of them, see?"
And they WERE so surprised to find
Out it was me!  

[roshanarose]

I can never really describe Cavafy's work adequately.  I studied him for four years in Modern Greek.  It was only three years after I had finished my studies that I found him in translation.  

I appreciate and agree with what W. H. Auden wrote about Cavafy in his introduction to The Complete Poems of Cavafy - translated by Rae Dalven.

viii Introduction

"...With the free relaxed iambic verse he generally uses, we are already familiar.  The most original aspect of his style, the mixture, both in his vocabulary and his syntax, of demotic and purist Greek, is untranslatable.  In English there is nothing comparable to the rivalry between demotic and purist, a rivalry that has excited high passions, both literary and political.  We have only Standard English on the one side and regional dialects on the other, and it is impossible for a translator to reproduce this stylistic effect or for an English poet to profit from it. "

Note :  Purist Greek may be unfamiliar.  Do a search for Katharevousa and learn about it, for Purist and Katharevousa are the same. When one learns Modern Greek in a formal setting such as a University, one is expected to become familiar with all forms of Greek from Attic Greek to Koine Greek to Byzantine to Katharevousa to Demotic.  When one studies Modern Greek poetry one must be familiar with all these variations.  At the risk of sounding snobbish, Cavafy is best appreciated in Demotic, but with a good working knowledge of the other languages (and cultures ) mentioned above.

Some Seferis next?

 

[Gumtree]

Our jeweler in the poem could be focused only on his achieved craftsmenship and the colored depths of the stones without seeing the dollar value of his raw material as more than the eggs and butter of his creation.

Barb - you hit it on the head - for the jeweller the pieces he treasures are priceless to him.

[Babi]

You may be right, GUM. I would hope so.

BARB, you remind me of a time when my older daughter was still in her
teens, working for a retail jewelry chain. They had another store not far
away, within walking distance, actually.  Sometimes, when they wanted to
transfer jewels from one store to the other, they would send Sally over
there, strolling along with a small fortune in jewels in her pocket. No
one would even think of such a possibility and it was the safest way to do
it.
  I found this poem from Texas that reminds me of some of the Aussie
poets. I like it.

Heart      
by Catherine Bowman 

 Old fang-in-the-boot trick. Five-chambered
asp. Pit organ and puff adder. Can live
in any medium save ice. Charmed by the flute
or the first thunderstorm in spring, drowsy
heart stirs from the cistern, the hibernaculum,
the wintering den of stars. Smells like the cucumber
served chilled on chipped Blue Willow. Her garden
of clings, sugars, snaps, and strings. Her creamy breasts
we called pillows and her bird legs and fat fingers
covered with diamonds from the mines in Africa.
The smell of cucumber.... Her mystery roses....

Heading out Bandera to picnic and pick corn,
the light so expert that for miles
you can tell a turkey vulture
from a hawk by the quiver in the wing.
Born on April Fools’, died on Ground Hog’s,
he pulls over not to piss but to blow away
any diamondback unlucky enough to be
on the road between San Antonio and Cotulla.

Squinting from the back of the pickup
into chrome and sun and shotgun confection,
my five boy cousins who love me more
than all of Texas and drink my spit
from a bottle of Big Red on a regular basis
know what the bejeweled and the gun-loading
have long since forgotten. And that is:
Snakes don’t die. They just play dead. The heart
exposed to so many scrapes, bruises, burns,
and bites sheds its skin, sprouts wings and fl ies,
becomes the two-for-one sparkler on
the Fourth of July, becomes what’s slung between
azure and cornfield: the horizon.

[roshanarose]

Babi - I like it too!  As a result of the flood many snakes are seeking refuge in dry (very few) spots in people's houses, in particular their rooves.  Evidently these snakes are very cross about losing their homes.  One snake, taking objection to a bicycle, decided to attack its rubber tires.  We can only be thankful for, in this case,  its redirected anger.  The snake was described as either an Eastern Brown snake or a taipan.  Both of which are deadly.

I was rather intrigued by Old fang-in-the-boot trick. Five-chambered
asp. Pit organ and puff adder  I have never heard of a five-chambered asp or a pit organ.

[BarbStAubrey]

OK mystery solved - most of the sites that include Catherine's poem have probably copied from each other and did not include the last two stanzas - I think those additions help us to see that a 5 chambered asp. is a metaphor for the heart although only bees have a heart with 5 chambers - and the pit organ is again another heart metaphor since there are pit vipers that are very poisonous they could be called pit organs but we seldom think of a cold blooded snake like a pit viper labeled as a pit organ.

Any how the poem is the first in her book which is on Amazon

The missing lines...

If you don't believe it
place your right hand on it
for the pledge
like you've taught.

Feel the hearing so deep. Limbless
and near limbless. Prefers the ambush
to the hunt. Sets the trap, picks a spot,
begins the vigil. Resorts at times to bluff
and temper. Swallows victims whole.
Tastes like chicken, Tastes like
hope, memory, forgiveness.

Babi this is a great poem -  Catherine Bowman is, would you believe, from New York City!!??!! However unusual, someone from back east captured southwest Texas perfectly using wonderful words that make you want to linger over each phrase. Thanks for finding it for us.

Here is the Amazon link to her book of poems, Notarikon, with a short bio on the back cover. Notarikon

roshanarose it is easy to read your post and realize just how much you love the Greek language including, it sounds like everything Greek - are there regular excursions to Greece from Australia - and how did you get turned onto Greek - something had to kick you off or you would not have studied the language while in school?  

I am imagining you could introduce us to several Greek poets whose work is translated but we would not find since we are not that familiar with the poets from Greece or for that matter from many locations along the Mediterranean. Hope you take up the task for us and broaden our working basket of poems.

[roshanarose]

"roshanarose it is easy to read your post and realize just how much you love the Greek language including, it sounds like everything Greek - are there regular excursions to Greece from Australia - and how did you get turned onto Greek - something had to kick you off or you would not have studied the language while in school?  

I am imagining you could introduce us to several Greek poets whose work is translated but we would not find since we are not that familiar with the poets from Greece or for that matter from many locations along the Mediterranean. Hope you take up the task for us and broaden our working basket of poems."

Barb - It is unlikely that I will be able to visit my beloved Greece again.  I think that is probably why I talk about it all the time, as I miss it so much.  Although the Australian dollar has just reached parity with the US dollar, the same cannot be said regarding the Euro.  The cost of the type of trip I would love to take to Greece costs a lot.  More than I have on a single pension, and unless I win Lotto, more than I ever will have.  This is the reality.  

Last time I visited in 2004 I took the same tour as I had in 1982, but added Thessaloniki, Pella and Vergina.  The home of Alexander.  The trip is entitled "An Archaeological Tour of Greece" and visits all the famous sites.  Last time I went I also visited many islands I had not visited during my first trip.  So IF (big IF) I travelled to Greece again I would do the archaeological tour again; revisit my favourite islands and add some new ones.  The mainland has a lot to offer, but it would take me well over a year to go to the places I have to see.  I have Patrick Leigh Fermor's "Roumeli :  Travels in Northern Greece" and would use that as one of my guides for the mainland.  He also wrote about the Mani, in the Southern Pelopponese, another must see for me.  When I first went to Greece in 1982 my parents were still alive, and did not expect to see me return :-) as I prefer to travel solo.  They gave me Lawrence Durrell's "The Greek Islands", which I still have.  A feast for the greed of the true Hellenophile.

What interested me?  Gustav Schwab's "Gods and Heroes".  I read it when I was young, and my heart and head belonged to Greece from then on and I swore that I would one day visit the places I read about in Schwab.  

Due to a divorce settlement I was able to take off in 1982.  When I returned I was a changed woman.  I gave up work and became a full-time student at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales.  It is one of the very few unis in Australia that offers Modern Greek, so I was lucky that it was in my hometown.  My goal : to learn Modern Greek and the Classics.  I did this for four years and did post grad Masters in Modern Greek as well.  To say Greek is my passion is something of an understatement.  I suffer constantly from η ξενιτία.  A word that roughly translates in English to a combination of longing and exile.

Thank you for your kind offer of broadening your knowledge of Greek poets.  It occurred to me that because of the years of intensively studying the Greek language and poetry I had somehow neglected Western poets.  I will always remember that you posted some beautiful pre-Raphaelite pix when I posted La Belle Dame san Merci.  I am passionate about Keats as well.  Seferis is my second favourite Greek poet. I have posted one of his poems on here called "Denial".  It is a poem that many Greeks adore.

The snake information you provided was interesting.  I never knew that bees had hearts, let alone five chambered ones.  Unfortunately, I dreamed about snakes and crocodiles last night.  I was attacked by some kind of nasty centipede.  I must look up Jung. Thinking about floods too.  It is such a tragedy what is happening in our North..

[Babi]

 I'm so glad you found the rest of the poem, BARB. I didn't realize any was missing. The line "place your right hand on it for the pledge" does let us know she is referring to the heart.  But where did a New Yorker learn so much about Texas?  Surely she must have spent some summers there growing up.

 Isn't it a sad aggravation, ROSE, when there are so many lovely places
we would love to see and so many solid reasons why we can't?
  I wouldn't worry about the dream.  What you had been reading/hearing
about the emergence of deadly snakes out of the flood was quite enough
to cause that dream. I was your subconscious clearing out the scary
stuff that had buried itself there.

[roshanarose]

Babi - Thanks for your words.  I don't remember my dreams last night 

[Babi]

 Unfortunately, I can no longer remember my dreams as I once did.
Too many interruptions, I suspect.  Back when I could retain and note
down those that made an impression, I found it very helpful.  The
subconscious stores away so much that the conscious mind has missed.

[BarbStAubrey]

Dreams    
          ~ by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Dawn Dreams    
          ~ by Rachel Hadas

Dreams draw near at dawn and then recede
even if you beckon them.
They loom like demons
you tug by the tail to examine from up close
and then let fly away.
Their colors at once brighter and less bright
than you remembered, they
hover and insinuate all day
at the corner of your eye.

[Babi]

 That tendency of dreams to recede is why I used to keep a pad and pen/pencil by my bed.  It
was necessary to jot down what details I remembered immediately, before it all began to fade
away.  Now, I usually don't get enough unbroken sleep to accommodate the dream cycle and
I have lost the habit of remembering what I do dream.  Once upon a time I had trained myself
to recall at least the gist of all three of the usual cycle of dreaming.  Pity I lost it; it was alway
helpful.

[BarbStAubrey]

this is not a poem as such but it is just too good not to share - it is an excerpt from the new book by, Simple Truths

[roshanarose]

Barb - How lovely.  You have, not for the first time, made my day happier.

[Gumtree]

Roshanarose - good to see you posting today - I thought you may have drowned in the latest downpour in Brisbane. They're reporting 6 inches in 3 hours - Stay safe.

[roshanarose]

Gumtree - Thanks for thinking of us.  Things are quite grim here.  The bill for damage is expected to be in excess of $11 billion.  My daughter's home is in danger as she lives right on the river.  Please spare a thought or prayer for her.  We won't know what the damage is until Thursday or Friday.  This flood has been compared to the 1974 Cyclone Tracy aftermath.  We just have to wait and see.  I am safe.

[Gumtree]

Roshanarose - I've been watching the ABC coverage of the flooding all evening. It looks like it's not getting any better - as if things aren't bad enough you've got to have a king tide as well! Wonder how Brisbane would be faring without the Wivenhoe Dam - this will be a big test for it. They're saying it's 190% full despite the overflow - that's a lot of water. Good to see salt of the earth Aussies responding to the crisis and helping each other. Anna Bligh seems to be conducting herself well in the crisis - not playing politics but apparently getting on with the job.

 Do stay on high ground and keep safe. Hope your daughter's house is OK - you and she will be in my thoughts and prayers until this is over. 

[BarbStAubrey]

We are seeing harrowing pictures of the recent evacuation in Brisbane - Am I wrong Roshanarose I was  under the impression  you lived quite south of Brisbane by at least 50 to 70 miles in a small town not too far from the Coast - but then maybe the entire area is affected.

Gumtree is there any word as to the cause of the flooding - where is all this water coming from? I hadn't heard of a storm and I cannot see landscape evidence of snow covered mountains that experienced an unusual melt...seems to me the flooding in Pakistan was because of unusually persistent rains. Has that part of the world north and south received more than their average rainfall?

Flood
          ~ James Joyce

Goldbrown upon the sated flood
The rockvine clusters lift and sway;
Vast wings above the lambent waters brood
Of sullen day.

A waste of waters ruthlessly
Sways and uplifts its weedy mane
Where brooding day stares down upon the sea
In dull disdain.

Uplift and sway, O golden vine,
Your clustered fruits to love's full flood,
Lambent and vast and ruthless as is thine
Incertitude!

 

[BarbStAubrey]

The Flood
          ~ by Robert Frost

Blood has been harder to dam back than water.
Just when we think we have it impounded safe
Behind new barrier walls (and let it chafe!),
It breaks away in some new kind of slaughter.
We choose to say it is let loose by the devil;
But power of blood itself releases blood.
It goes by might of being such a flood
Held high at so unnatural a level.
It will have outlet, brave and not so brave.
weapons of war and implements of peace
Are but the points at which it finds release.
And now it is once more the tidal wave
That when it has swept by leaves summits stained.
Oh, blood will out. It cannot be contained.

[roshanarose]

Gumtree - I wouldn't have thought that it could get worse but it has.  Seeing the pix on the news is heart wrenching.  The one I find most disturbing is the concrete slab which is all that is left of a big Queenslander.  Neighbours revealed that they had not seen the occupants, and don't know what had happened to them.  That big house had literally been "washed away". 

My daughter and family had to evacuate this morning.  I offered her refuge, but the roads were cut between our respective houses.  Another friend came to the rescue and Justine and her family are staying with them. They are safe.  The flood peak will be at 4am tomorrow morning as a huge volume of water moves from Wivenhoe Dam (flood gates had to be opened) down the Brisbane River through Ipswich and then onto Brisbane. 

Your words and prayers mean a great deal to my family and me.  Thank you.

Barb - I live about 11 km from the CBD of Brisbane.  Where I live is on high ground and we haven't been threatened at all, but many roads are cut so we are isolated. 

The "official" causes of this historic event (biggest flood in 100 years) are

i)  Ground saturated due to rain during the months of November and December;

ii)  La Nina weather pattern coming from the coast of South America;

and iii) the Monsoon (or the Big Wet) in North Queensland, which is seasonal. 

At least we will not be kept in suspense for much longer.  But 4am Thursday seems a long way away.

   

[Babi]

  I've been watching the BBC news...theirs always seems better.  I'm
never sure if our time is ahead of yours, GUM and ROSE, or behind,
but it's nearly 8a.m. now and I'm wondering it the dam has been
opened yet and how Brisbane if faring.  Prayerfully, while we wait.

  I found this poem, which has 'getting old' markers I recognize all too
well.
   A Heart Divided      by Pierre Reverdy

He so spares himself
He so fears the coverings
The sky’s blue coverlet
And pillows of cloud
He is ill-clothed by his faith
He is so afraid of steps that go awry
And streets chipped in the ice
He is too tiny for winter
He so fears the cold
He is transparent in his mirror
He is so hazy he loses himself
Time rolls him under its waves
At moments his blood flows the wrong way
And his tears stain the linen
His hand gathers green trees
And nosegays of seaweed from the strand
His faith is a thorn bush
His hands bleed against his heart
His eyes have lost their glow
And his feet trail over the sea
Like the dead arms of devil-fish
He is lost in the universe
He stumbles against cities
Against himself and his own failings
Then pray that the Lord
Erase even the memory
Of this man from His mind

[Gumtree]

Hi Babi - Oh my!  Our times are ahead of yours and BBC time too - I am on GMT+8 and Roshanarose is GMT+10  - that makes me exactly 12 hours ahead of US east coast.

The flood gates on Wivenhoe Dam have been systematically releasing water for some time. They say water equivalent to a full Sydney Harbour is being released every day - 500,000 megalitres That's a lot of water.

The water is expected to peak in about 5 hours - in Brisbane at least - there have been horrific scenes and some great resilience and spirit shown by the victims. Brisbane CBD is a ghost town - no power, very little transport and lots of water. They are cutting power for safety reasons.

Smaller country communities have been hard hit - some two or three times in as many weeks - they clean up after one flood, start to settle again and then another flood hits them. There is a worry about mosquito borne diseases and gastro etc.  The military are on hand to get food and medical supplies in etc etc. Emergency teams from all over the country have rallied to Queensland to help - recovery will take a long time  and will cost the nation billions.

The floods are now extending further southwards into New South Wales and a couple of small towns have been evacuated. Amazing how what is usually a small sandy creek can  become a raging killer torrent in a matter of minutes.

I'm guessing that Roshanarose has no power at present - but I could be wrong. It depends on where she is on the grid. Will be good to hear from her again tho' she says she is on high ground and that her family is also safe.   

[BarbStAubrey]

Babi the flooding in Australia must be like Katrina - a nightmare for all - not only the ones trying to flee but the areas where folks are going are disrupted -  yes, in a good way since everyone chips in but still there is a huge influx of folks who are sorta shell shocked and yet, who have their family to take care of without a home, a job, a change of clothes, medicine, their pets - it goes on and on.

From what we see here Gumtree after Katrina the financial needs for a city and for individuals will go on for years as will the trauma and that is what most tax payers had not thought was a basic need after a catastrophe.

Seems to me all over the world a system of group meetings needs to be organized for those who were affected by a catastrophe to attend much like AA meetings or Grief Counseling meetings -  meeting as groups would be the least expensive way if there was some guidelines available since most group meetings are volunteer with small donations to cover the cost of securing a room, usually in a church hall for a couple of hours each week.

[roshanarose]

I'm still here.  

Really, the only inconvenience that has been experienced where I live, is that there is no garbage collection until 17th January, and our roads are still cut.  The electricity has not been effected at all here.  

Barbara - I think the similarities you draw between Katrina and this flood are accurate.  As Gum says "there have been horrific scenes and some great resilience and spirit shown by the victims".  It is uplifting but still so terribly sad to see their courage when they have lost everything.  

My daughter was able to get back to her house earlier this morning.  I will give you a brief description of how her property is laid out and that should give you some idea of the scale of this disaster.  The family have a beautiful home that is located right on the Brisbane River.  They have their own pontoon; next level up is a grassy area for enjoying the river; next level up is the swimming pool which is on the same level as the basement.  All these levels are tiered.  I expected that the flood water would reach well up into the basement as that was where the water was when they evacuated.   The basement, itself is on two levels and is fully equipped as a living space, although it is not being used as such (fortunately).  So we are looking at a 3 storey house - including the basement and two levels from the river for the pontoon, the grassy area and the swimming pool.  Roughly, I would say about 10 - 11 metres in height from the normal level of the river, possibly more.  

My daughter told me she felt somewhat relieved when checking out the scene on their return.  If there had been a metre more water the flood would have gone through the living area.  The basement has an internal staicase leading to the living area.  I guess there would be about 25 steps.  As it was the flood waters had reached the third step below the living area.  It is hard to comprehend, but that is an astounding amount of water.  People in low lying areas had no hope.  

The next step is the clean up.  Snakes are a real worry and Justine expects to meet a few.  The mud and sludge is terrible.  I have seen what the flood left behind on its way down to Brisbane.  This morning I tried to access volunteers to come and help her clean up.  Many people are signing up but the volunteer infrastructure is not bearing up well with all the requests from people who want to help.  

There will be another high tide (flood peak) at 4pm today.  The good news being that the Brisbane River was one metre lower than expected.  That is what saved part of my daughter's property.  The flood waters will not subside until Sunday.  

Thanks everybody for your good wishes and encouragement.  The support here from the community is immense.  A disaster is surely what brings people together.  

[Gumtree]

Roshanarose So there you are - all safe and sound! Glad to hear it. What a blessing that the river peak was not as high as expected. Your daughter is lucky that the main house was not flooded - I'm sure she'll get help with the cleaning up - I imagine all the services are stretched pretty thin at present.

The stories of courage and heroism are filtering through - how about the tug boat guy...

Barbara - Professional counselling is always offered to disaster victims - and are often ongoing over time - some of those formed after the Black Saturday bushfires are still in operation - and will remain so long as the need is there.

More flooding is expected further south and right into Victoria on the south coast. It's an amazing water event - The little town of Natimuk in Victoria -population 500 - is one of those already hit by floods and more expected. DH has extended family in that district - his forebears took up the first allocation of land there in the 1850s so some descendants are still there - they're OK but not looking forward to more water just at present.

[BarbStAubrey]

Professional counselling is always offered to disaster victims - and are often ongoing over time - some of those formed after the Black Saturday bushfires are still in operation - and will remain so long as the need is there.

Wow I am impressed - the folks of Australia must realize and accept the need that is still looked upon here with wareful eyes and therefore not considered worthy of taxpayer's money.

[Babi]

 

"water equivalent to a full Sydney Harbour is being released every day "

Oh, my Lord! That's staggering!   More prayers on their way.
   I'm so glad to hear from you, Rosahanarose. I was concerned about your isolation,
whether your supplies were sufficient and whether you had means of communication
if you needed help. The clean up is going to be horrific, as we well remember from
Katrina. Even here, away from the brunt of the storm, it was quite a while before
electrical service was restored.  Hot weather, no AC, and ice being in great demand.
  Hopefully, your clean-up will be accomplished more quickly and efficiently
than it's proceeding in Haiti. There is a frustrating example of the difference
between poverty and affluence.

[Gumtree]

Barbara - I didn't mean to imply that we had Utopia here - no matter how much help and counselling or money is made available it is never enough and always there are those who fall through the gaps.

Babi - yes, we are very fortunate when compared to countries like Haiti which have no stable government or infrastructure in place to swing into action is times of trouble. Our systems are far from perfect but at least they are in place and after each disastrous event they are assessed as to performance and changes are made to improve matters for the future - but it's never enough.

[roshanarose]

Gum - If interviewed no doubt the tug boat captain would say he was just doing his job.  There are many acts of heroism, some small, some great, but all show what we are capable of in the face of great adversity.  There have also been looters.  I wonder if they still have those pikes available in London? 

As for my daughter - today she has started the cleanup with the help of her DH, father in law and a family friend.  I am literally champing at the bit, but the roads are still cut and I am unable to get to them.  I so want to be with them all.  I have about four community volunteers on standby just waiting for my daughter's instructions.  The frustrating thing is that she is very hard to reach.  Because she is so busy she has her mobile/cell phone switched off.  When she gets back to their current refuge (in a friend's house) she takes stock and answers the many calls of concern.  Fortunately, her husband, who is a lawyer, has his own partnership and can take time off.  Employees are not so lucky.  If they are casual they do not get paid for time away, and many businesses have closed due to inundation.  Just as with Katrina the aftermath seems right now to be endless.  The Federal Government has offered modest amount of money to those who have been seriously effected.  One example is that if your power has been off for 48 hours or more you can receive $1000 per adult and $400 per child.  One can only imagine how long it will take for these claims to be processed.

I have seen on TV that Brazil has had many lives lost. I ha always thought that 2nd and 3rd world countries do not get the help or attention of 1stworld countries.  The flood is continuing to  devastate as it goes further south.  Goondiwindi (a good Aboriginal name, babi) is on high alert for record flood levels, but evidently they have 11 foot levees.  Hopefully they will hold. 

Once again, thank you.  I feel as though you are all "with" me.

[Gumtree]

Roshanarose - yes, of course we are 'with' you. I truly understand your wish to be with your daughter and her family - it's hard being a mum sometimes when you have to stand aside and wait. Don't worry, she'll be so glad to see you when the time comes and I daresay she is thankful that you were out of harm's way.

[Babi]

but it's never enough.

 I hear you, GUM.  I went looking for some quotes that reflected this
more unforgiving side of nature.  Here are a few,

Nature goes her own way and all that to us seems an exception is really according to order.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative.
H. G. Wells

Nature's law affirm instead of prohibit. If you violate her laws, you are your own prosecuting attorney, judge, jury, and hangman.
Luther Burbank

Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature.
Albert Einstein

[BarbStAubrey]

Babi I especially like

Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature.
Albert Einstein

We've been trying to control nature's order to our idea of order for hundred's of years - seems to me in the early history of man up until at least the Renaissance, man tried to read nature so we could live successfully within the natural world - although thinking, I guess building walls for protection and aqueducts for water the seeds of man changing nature to fit our needs have put us at odds as if man and nature are on the opposite ends of a continuum.

Man vs Nature

The heavens roared with thunder
as lightning filled the skies
was this God getting angry
or Natures big surprise.

Is Mother Nature telling us
the best way that she can
to stop the interference
and abuse she gets from man.

We marvel at her beauty
each time we look around
then dig up all her treasures
from their natural burial ground.

We forget that Nature gives us
all that keeps us living
we take it all and still want more
but never think of giving.

We build across the countryside
progressing every day
but Mother Nature can't progress
for man is in the way.

[Babi]

Yeah, I know.  Everytime I hear of more land, more farms, being bought
up so that more homes can be built, I flinch.  Of course, the builders
aren't interested...now, at least....in the unpleasant, untillable places.
How long before we find the country filled to the brim with people and
homes, and no way to feed them.  There are fewer and fewer farms left.
 

[BarbStAubrey]

Love Is
          ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

“Love is the only bow on life's dark cloud.
It is the Morning and the Evening Star.
It shines upon the cradle of the babe, and sheds
its radiance upon the quiet tomb. It is the Mother
of Art, inspirer of poet, patriot, and philosopher.
It is the air and light of every heart,
builder of every home,
kindler of every fire on every hearth.

It was the first dream of immortality.
It fills the world with melody, for music is
the voice of Love. Love is the magician,
the enchanter, that changes
worthless things to joy, and makes right royal kings of common clay.
It is the perfume of the wondrous flower—the heart—and without that sacred passion, ...
we are less than beasts; but with it,
earth and heaven are gods.” 

[BarbStAubrey]

From the Irish message board...

The January Thaw

A balmy day for January
As January goes
The schoolkids donned
Their shorts like June
Unseasonable fog
Obscured the moon
To some of us
The warmth a boon
Such bewitchment cast
Nature's spell looms...
The January thaw

Like Indian summer
It arrives on southerly wings
Awakes an urge
An irresistable fling
Makes me long for
An early spring
Spoiled by the promise
The sunshine brings
So welcome makes
Me want to sing...
The January thaw

Tomorrow when it
Turns to snow
Away from it all
I shall want to go
Across the sea
On my dreams I'll flow
To winter on the Isle
Where the green still grows
A fantasy?
Perhaps 'tis so...
The January thaw