Elisabeth Wentworth: Living Will
Living Will
Two strangers certified your sound mind
A decade of life ago
And you signed a statement
Of your wishes and resolve
I understood it then
You directed me on some future day
When unreliable mind and fear
Might silence you
When expectations were low
To say, for you, No more
I knew you could not bear
Then to outlive your mind
Your crack-whip wit
Your courage and compassion
Left behind
All memory washed away
When what you valued then
Was all the rich remembering
The story whole
In words you owned
You were so sure it would be clear
Cut—that I could hold
Your living wishes in my hand
And know that time was here.
Elisabeth Wentworth
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins