Ode to Melbourne

Even on a grey morn such as this, I am driven to exhort

For my fellow metropoles, to talk using kind words

And to rely not upon the vacancies of sound grabs:

 

My eyes dance a wondering waltz upon your skyline

Aye Melbourne, you often get my better

But my best, well then, it comes when your halo shines:

 

You never stifle my thoughts, or my simple passions

They go with me as I walk, emphatic when I pause

Safe and flourishing: strolling as I do on St Kilda pier:

 

A minor motive and behold, a day to test decisive powers

The weather has tricked again; and I am at the ready

Someone asks me what interests I have; I explain easily:

 

To have a simple life, I am willing to hand my trust to you

I gather with your members and exalt the flying ball

Amidst the cheers and sorrows someone is born again:

 

When I seek to escape, Punt Road has opened up for me

A little of the irony that goes well with careful planning

And gladly I am welcomed back by the sunshine and the rain:

 

Blessed be my bleary senses when the summer evening glows

From delicate rays cast over me, beyond the You Yang snows.

 

At dusk St Kilda’s esplanade is the stage for deep forgetting

Some walk, others run and ride and the amnesia reigns

Monday is truly a day worthy of corralling all that is grey:

 

Like my moods of sadness, frustration and my loneliness

Your character Melbourne ensures some balance in a life

Rewarding those who choose it, to live it willingly:

 

Ponder deep your aura Melbourne; it is in your electricity

Your vanity, your pride inspires a pedestrian’s reciprocity.

 

A walk through a city garden is a walk seeking remedies

Yes, in bloom or naked, the trees whisper of my gratitude

An intimate mist falls then rises: I am on my way again:

 

The spell of ornateness is cast over me, this Melburnian

In the lifetime of a look, I fantasise over the grandeur

I feel lightly lost during this chance of Victorian nostalgia.