poems
Poem by Leunig

"Anyone can get a life
Anyone can lose it But who will dare to inhabit the thing.......and use it?

A lived in life will soon get loose and worn from use and feeling;
Countless tiny scratches;
The shine goes off. It's very unappealing!

Dirt builds up
A load of muck and grit A part of you gets lost-
A hope, a philosophy
Or a love that doesn't fit.

Another broken sleep
A dream collapses
A quick repair. It's worth a try
A scrap of string from the soul
Perhaps a battered grin
Will fill the hole-
Or just a sigh

Flakes and cracks!
A major idea buckles badly.
A makeshift support is invoked quickly.
A tired joke could hide the dint.
Or be a wedge, or a patch or a splint....
Truly, sweetly, sadly.

And yet it works and lives!
It all still goes. It forgives.
It's a miracle!
Worn in, bashed in, cried in,
And the great thing -
A lived in life.........
Can be happily died in."

The Sydney Morning Herald, Feb.16-17 2002 Charlene Smith Johannesburg, South Africa +27.82-495-8716 +27.11.646-7637 (including fax)