My Alma Mater - University House at the Australian National University in Canberra

 EARLY MORNING AT UNIVERSITY HOUSE

 

The brightness startles when the blinds are drawn

And smacks across the window’s sleepy brow

As sunshine rages there against the lawn

And dawning makes a last flamboyant bow.

 

My entrance to the court unmasks delight:

The choisya is so very pure and white

Beset abuzz by jezebels and nymphs

That hover nectar-yielding labyrinths.

 

The pool is quiet where carp will bide the day

But then the birds alight - alert and keen:

The cockatoo sips morning mist away,

While come the tufted doves to coo and preen

 

And nesting mynas strut, weighing their searches,

As the chorus rises and then takes song

Amid the shrubs and the silver birches -

So swoops and chortles then the kurrawong.

 

And so by heaven, I thank the wakened sun

For this Canberra day that’s just begun.