The plunge of the paddle

the tilt of the sky

and the blue and the golden -

the sandbanks drift by .....

li-loing on the Shoalhaven

curving the water and air

hearing the chant

of the next cascade

wizardly stirring the air

These are the hours of sunshine

carried along by the flow

Nature - the bearded rock imp

waves greenly the way to go .

Tom Hallyar 1990

I

The waterfall

On Kooloo Creek

Rings out

A campanile

Patterning its valley

With the hosts

Of the softest silver notes

The ghost gum trees.

The sky above,

Blue harmony.

Immaculate

Its cloudless melody

And mellifluously flow,

Grove to grove ,

Bushes , creepers and serrata

Boronias, fuschias

Flower sonata

Amidst them

Swaying to a breeze's bow,

A fiery finery of dewdrops jingling

 As we come out of our tents

And listen in awe

Five auric notes

Are rising

From the fIoor

Of Kooloo Gorge

A magpie's peeling cabriole

To the cadences of dawn.  

c 1990

by Tom  Hayllar c 1995