‘Higher Purpose’ and Other Poetry by David Watt

Higher Purpose

Is there any higher purpose
As they walk with faces down?
Are they sure of destination
As they shuffle through the town;
With eyes grown unaccustomed
To a world beyond their screens;
Affixed to apps unsocial,
Missing people, places, scenes?

If call could make connection
Back to Life and all it means,
Then beauty all-surrounding,
Precious moments, not machines,
Could regain Mind’s attention
Numb distraction so demeans.

I Reminisce, I Reminisce

After Thomas Hood

I reminisce, I reminisce,
About those springs of old
When life was in its heyday
And days were never cold;
When joy was there for taking,
Plucked from laden branch;
Play was what we made it,
On heels of circumstance.

I reminisce, I reminisce,
Sweet perfumes on the breeze,
Colours of the garden,
The buzzing hum of bees;
Places we would wander
In groups of twos or threes,
With no other purpose
Than afternoons at ease.

I reminisce, I reminisce,
That light of perfect strength,
Warm enough to nourish,
Considerate in length;
Not leading to exertion
When meadows lay to roam,
Trees remained for climbing,
Whole neighbourhood meant home.
I reminisce, I reminisce,
For what may never be;
Return of springs a child
Knew, hopeless now to see;
Cluttered as our minds are
With worries day to day,
Fogs of limitation,
Forgotten rules of play.

David Watt is a writer from Canberra, the “Bush Capital” of Australia. He has contributed regularly to Collections of Poetry and Prose by Robin Barratt. When not working for IP (Intellectual Property) Australia, he finds time to appreciate the intrinsic beauty of traditional rhyming poetry.