"Destined Minds"

SHELL SONG

the hard largely calcareous covering of a mollusc
a place the living call home

crystaline forms of delicate ornate detail
wash up on the sandy shores

fragmented from its travels from beneath
the white foamy waves

You once slowly meandered and decorated
ancient ocean floors

and now found beautiful and perfect in
every way I reach down amongst the seaweed

and bring the shell to my ear and listen
to the song it sings of coral reefs

and ocean beds and the many ships that
passed over head, of whales that

they too shared their song the whispering
of the sea and I continued to listen to

your song and stories of the old man of the sea
of times and tides of rolling waves

of tempest storms and silent graves that
lie beneath the torquoise waters

and now for you loveliness of perfection
I put you in my pocket and take you on

another journey and let your ears be filled
with the wonderment of grandchildrens awe

of you as they too listen to your whisper...

Maree Long
(c) Maree Long 2008

www.freewebs.com/poetrybymareelong

CICADA'S SONG - The Courtship of Summer

cicada's song that rings in the air
comes on the morning breeze
of summers breath thick in humidity

sounding like the word of "pharoah"
or the sizzling skillet of flighted meat
singing midday as another awaits the late afternoon shift

the female lured and flying nearer responds
to the male with a flick of her wings
and lured to the emitting sound

and when you sing all else is quiet as
vibrating rib plates in amplifying cavities
that which can be heard from half a mile away

so sing cicada sing, sing in competing throng
and secure a mate for thee
for you will sing for little less than 30 days

for summer's emergence tranparent wings
that filter violets light for
did you spy thousands of stovepipes there upon the ground

so fanciful and many are your names
Yellow Monday, Whisky Drinker, Double Drummer and Black Prince
the Cherry Nose, Red Eye and Brown Baker,

your song rises amongst the loudest in the word
adapted perfectly to the urbanized environment
is Australias emerald Green Grocer

but be aware the king of summers song
for Exerirus hunts and is ready with sting
numb from your demise stuck in a burrow

and there you rest on shelves of the catacomb
and be deposited there as mere food stock
as fodder for the wasp-grub that grow

and now summer moves as the leaves change their color
and Autumn in passing waves
and your secret isall that remains

now silent the defeaning drone
that once pulsed through the air
are the lifeless forms of summers reign

Maree Long
(c) Maree Long 2008
www.freewebs.com/poetrybymareelong

أنا أحبّ أنت مع كلّي قلب

Dedicated to my
own true love my own habibi
of many faithful years

that stems the tide
of loneliness that is oft
found on earths wilderness

Ana Bhvibbak habibi
with imperfect heart
that spring has blossomed

Ana Bhvibbak habibi
sweetly sings the
the nightengale song

Ana Bhvibbak habibi
love with a beginning
that accepts this time

Ana Bhvibbak habibi
that tastes the joys
before the seasons end

.........habibi
...............habibi
.....................habibi

Maree Long
(c)Maree Long 2007

www.freewebs.com/poetrybymareelong