Two little seeds
In one big pot.
I tend your needs,
And water at lot.
I wait and watch.
I’m happy to spy
Two little shoots
Emerge, by and by
A leaf or two,
And now there’s three!
It doesn’t take long
Before you’re up to my knee.
Standing up tall
You reach for the sun.
Large leaves spreading,
Two grow together as one.
Like twins you stand
Now past my waist.
You look so grand,
As you grow with haste.
Buds are forming,
I’m excited to see!
I wonder how big
Your faces will be.
First Fruit
There’s a custard apple growing
On the custard apple tree!
The first fruit ever it bore.
I’ve watered and mulched
Since we planted it there
Two years ago, maybe more.
So oft have I searched
For flowers and form;
A sign of a first fruit, fair.
But naught did I find
But a flower or two
That very soon wasn’t there,
Leaving nothing to show
But leaves, and so
I’ve waited as seasons slipped by.
When, to my disbelief
Hiding behind by a yellowing leaf,
On the end of a drooping twig, I spy
A fist-sized, first fruit, fair!
Perfectly formed and ripe to eat,
A custard apple growing just for me.
The first of many yet to come.
Thank you, thank you
Custard apple tree!
Kookaburra sits
On a clothes line tall,
Carefully surveying
The urban sprawl.
Spying a movement
In the grass,
He swoops down swiftly.
Dinner at last!
Won’t you laugh kookaburra,
Laugh for me?
Your life is so much harder
Than it used to be.
Kookaburra sits
On a clothes line tall,
Carefully surveying
The urban sprawl.
Spying a movement
In the grass,
He swoops down swiftly.
Dinner at last!
Won’t you laugh kookaburra,
Laugh for me?
Your life is so much harder
Than it used to be.
The Thing-a-me-bunyaroo
The Thing-a-me-bunyaroo
Is a very strange creature, it’s true!
He’s as tall as a man
And stout as a ram
With a long, shaggy coat of blue.
The Thing-a-me-bunyaroo
Loves to find nuts to chew.
His teeth are as strong
As the river is long
But he also loves apple stew.
The Thing-a-me-bunyaroo
Has been seen by very few.
He hides in the billabong by day
And then comes happily out to play
At night, amongst the dew.
The Thing-a-me-bunyaroo;
Where to find him? I haven’t a clue!
I’d like to meet him just for fun,
Play ‘Hide and Seek’ or ‘Tag and Run’
With the Thing-a-me-bunyaroo… Wouldn’t you?
The Auskicker (for Linclon)
Coloured bands around your wrist
Show you where to run.
Jerseys, boots and footy socks
Show the team you’re one.
Handball to your team mate,
Kick it if you can.
Try to get it through the gap
To the forward man.
And…
He takes a solid mark,
With the goal posts near!
Clap and cheer and pat his back
As the ball sails clear!
A goal, a goal!
A job well done!
The team all gather round
To celebrate his first goal kicked
And his joy in footy found!
Kookaburra sits
On a clothes line tall,
Carefully surveying
The urban sprawl.
Spying a movement
In the grass,
He swoops down swiftly.
Dinner at last!
Won’t you laugh kookaburra,
Laugh for me?
Your life is so much harder
Than it used to be.
Stephanie Boase
Butterfly
Soft as a dew drop
It lands
Dancing lightly
Upon pansy and petunia
Coloured wings flash and flutter
Delicate in the sunlight
Still for a moment
Then off again
Flitting from flower to flower
Sipping sweet nectar
Heralding Spring
Butterfly!
Australian Children’s Poetry 