A letter from Tom Arnold"s Sister as the John Wickcliffe Waits in the Otago Harbour,

Impossible to forget
public matters
who can escape
being who we are,the ruling classes,
with a duty to ourselves,
our culture and the God who dwells
within.

Perhaps
you are still on the John Wickcliffe
in Otago harbour
or building
a log cabin for Captain Cargill
his "guide" life
of honest labour for a canny wage
and his odious daughters
who commonly offer favours,
you say, and are greedy
exposed to the ship's openess
and the new Pacific.

An Attempt to Describe His Character

There are stars
and recovered memories of stars
there are no forevers
and if there were
he would deign to ignore them.

There are precise borders
of green palms and excessive rain
there are bones of mistakes
and heaps of compost
there is a sign
which says yes you will.

Only by extreme casualness
will the work be accomplished
a slight. an offence
the poet grabs it by the roots.

It takes time
whatever pleases and is just
waiting to catch the gold and silver
coins in his hat
thankyou he says and may your days be blessed.

To Disregard the Obvious, Briefly, On the Way to Heaven Knows Where.

Is this enough
the incidental takes on a new light
is the ideal a sorry soul
I think it is

I think I'm right.
Well there is wisdom
but it's sorely lacking
the clever world
of go and get it
knows there's consequence
untold, not yet arrived

character was found wanting
balance
of nature going it's own sweet way

here is a tablet of moral guidance
here is the writing of the sages.

I heard your true voice
it was a whisper of doubt
it passed over
and was lost in morning light
it passed over
I'm inclined to say
my life.

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