Sparkling eyes - Helene Gau l April 2011 ©
I am tall, slim, pale and elegant with neat grey waves on top. My profile is trim and also curvaceous. My eyes are outlined in royal blue, highlighting my sparkling clear panes.
Each morning I sigh in pleasure when my eyes open to enjoy the view. I love my cottage garden full of purple lavenders, white camellias, pink diosma and yellow roses. I enjoy seeing people strolling in the sunshine. At night I gaze in awe at the black velvet sky studded with diamonds.
I am aware of the sweetness of my garden, the perfume of roses and lavender and the fragrance of eucalyptus from the trees. The smell of tea and toast starts the morning, followed by a cake cooking and roast lamb with rosemary for dinner at night. Those delicious aromas seep into me.
Sometimes I crave company and feel happy when visitors arrive with lau ghter and good cheer. When I feel the vibrations of children running and people dancing, it is like a therapeutic massage for me. The friendly sensation of possum feet scampering sends a shiver of pleasure up my spine.
I feel happy to hear the sound of birds chirping and whistling in the nearby trees. The sound of washing flapping reminds me of the ocean waves. The sound of good conversation with the chink of crystal is like music to my ears.
On a hot summer afternoon I enjoy an ocean breeze to cool me. I don’t like the cold wind of winter whistling around me. A layer of insulation and a cosy fire keep me warm. The feel of rain cleanses me.
When the wind coats me with dust and spider webs irritate my sensitive parts, a good scrubbing with bristly brush and warm soapy water invigorates me.
At the end of each day my eyes close and I rest for the night.
Keep to the left unless overtaking
Mandy Byrne
I stand alone everyone sees me but rarely am I acknowledged. It is an interesting life and one that I quite enjoy. I am often a hero yet never get recognized for it.
My large yellow face gives meaning to life and it is often said without me a catastrophe might have occurred. A man once hung flowers around me, he was crying. That could have been because his son didn't heed me and was killed just on the corner.
Some days when the sun beats down I feel I could doze off and I think others do the same only you can't do that when you are driving, it makes for very noisy consequences. My face gets dirty and it is always welcome to feel the rain cleaning me and freshening up the area.
At my base a dog, he lives near by, likes to give me a golden shower so it is just as well the rain cleans it away. During the drought it stunk and more animals came and seemed to think I was a public urinal.
Old age has weakened my pole with the help of urine, and I now lean rather drunkenly to one side. The council man came and wrote something down. Another man came and measures me. Yet another came and put orange beacons along the road and another sign saying road works, of course nothing happened for ages.
Then one sunny morning along came a truck with three workman. One held me and another got a very noisy machine and loosened my concrete base. The third man seemed to be the supervisor and told them when to stop and they drank several cups of tea over a period of several hours. A concrete truck came the next day and I was taken completely out and thrown on the back of a truck. Me, thrown away with no regard to all my years of dedication.
I looked back and saw the new sign. Bright yellow with Keep to the left unless overtaking. I was just so much junk now.
Hold it I was not thrown on the scrap heap. Some intelligent person put a preservation order on me and now I stand tall and fresh in the museum of ancient road signs. There is always an idiot for everything I guess.
When I was young I was pretty groovy and travelled in the best circles.
Some thought I was full of hot air, yet, though I was consistently under pressure I seemed to get round okay, in fact, most of the time I was pretty pumped.
Life was often in the fast lane although too much left me a little deflated, and sometimes actually feeling quite flat.
Some said my ego was over-inflated yet the odd flat spot still occurred. Mostly life was a spin out which is probably why today I fell wheely tired.
I saw my cousins Bob and Jane the other day. They’re quite racy you know, a pretty slick pair but (and you didn’t hear it from me) they’re pretty wide and definitely not groovy. Too many donuts if you ask me but as skids we rolled around a fair bit together. They’re not publicity hunters that’s for sure, keep a low profile actually.
It’s sometimes quite hard being black and, of course, always having to be up.
Oh well, it’s been a good year really, even though someone nailed me at the tip recently.
I guess I’ll soon be off, what goes round comes round. It’s sad but it now looks like I’ll end my life at the end of a rope.
