Nicholas Hasluck: Two Poems
Grandson
The faint where are you voice
comes to us from afar,
softly, playfully, the words
going this way and that way,
not knowing where we are.
Here, behind the big curtain,
the oncoming footfalls pacing,
I am hiding in the silence
with my little man, his heart
beneath my hand racing.
His tiny heart reminds me
of his father’s heart, another day,
now lost in time, when my son
was here beside me, his whisper
giving the game away.
Brave, but not so brave,
swapping glances in the gloom,
it will all be frantic laughter
in a moment, as we dash
into the other room.
And so, the game runs on,
runs out, the end unplanned,
but something of myself will
linger here, a memory of his
heartbeat in my hand.
Nicholas Hasluck
Barque
An ill-fated barque
near reefs off Rottnest,
a cargo of building needs,
nails, windows, doors,
at risk in furious seas.
When its captain saw
the lighthouse-keeper’s
distant warning flare,
he mistook it for…
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