Life Is Not A Sydney Telephone Number

It was this way you see, a desire to face less
traffic with more space and better choices;
we’d heard the voices before you know – a
true silence always has distinctive echoes.

So we ran away from Sydney. Yesterday we
agreed here is where we’ve been content,
10 ½ years resident, longest continuous
period ever in our entire partnered history.

What was wrong with Sydney? Nothing rear
view mirrors couldn’t cure, or better dispel
nostalgia than to see the endless red-tiled
roofs disappear beneath northbound wings.

Coming back again is almost coming home,
sort of bitter-sweet; faces and places remain
etched pleasantly, atoning for Neanderthals
who prowl the streets in powerful SUVs.

And home is family - the growing gang of
familiars who’ve enigmatically peopled our
lives these past thirty years, embraced again
in brief but emotionally reflective greetings.
© 19 December 2007, I. D. Carswell