Junk is other people’s collected ephemera
amassed over years
accruing dust on shelves
un-tended gardens of spiders
inhabited by unfamiliar ghosts.
These physical renderings of pasts lack passion
their meaning lost to others.
Seen only in the reality of now
the stone is just a stone:
not our walk, hand in hand, along the beach at St Cyrus Sands.
© Sheila Ash, 2018
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/133457
© Copyright Ian Cleland and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
The Southern Cross
guards the opening carved in the heavens
by the galactic arm of the Milky Way stretching far across the night sky.
A silk cut on velvet black
bleeding constellations of colour
into our eyes staring in awe from the edge of Fish River Canyon.
© Sheila Ash, 2018
Notes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_Box_(star_cluster)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crux
If you want to see a picture of the southern sky from the canyon take a look at the following photo http://www.skyandtelescope.com/online-gallery/southern-milky-way-namibia/ from Photographer Jean-Claude Merlin jcmerlin@wanadoo.fr
Much better than my camera and photographic skills which could only manage https://www.flickr.com/photos/jesjaspers/11426253673/in/album-72157638711336556
When I’m the last one standing
All nine bottles gone
All eight lives lived to the full
The ninth will be a song of remembrance
Toasted with the tenth
© Sheila Ash
