No More The Honest Word (For Mark Felgate) Poem by Danny Draper

No more the honest word
Forthright and explicit,
Scourge of scaramouch, idler
and shameful sham professionals.
Rugged escarpment shadows rake Pacific swell
Southerly change through Blackbutt crowns’
caress wispy apical sprays,
Catchment limbs across
Surf club beaches sprint,
‘to roaring oceans’ run,
grow or be undone.
No more the master foe
fishes respectfully sigh,
In sea and lake and stream
by Red ash, Bangalay and Lilly pilly.
No more the honest word
in any council.
No more the honest word
now all will be indefinite,
ambiguous, non-committal, diplomatic.
No more the honest word,
Sage counsel now is silent.