Early Morning At University House, Canberra Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

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.