Went elsewhere for a week.... less the two days of travelling.
It’s a ten hour drive to get there and it was on the fourth day that we found the Blue and the Green pools.
It’s only a fifteen minute drive from our very temporary holiday home of which - I can only paint a suggestion - picture a gated community where the grass is manicured but the place is ‘sold’ as pet friendly..... take a plastic bag when out walking the ancient dogs or suffer baleful looks.
It was strange and unexpected holiday house - found over the net - but it basically suited the purpose so ... no complaint.
It’s possible to go anywhere in Australia and find great natural beauty. These Green and Blue pools lie a stones throw from the beach and are separated themselves by not much more than a stones throw from either each other or the beach. They’re freshwater pools with ample size in which to swim or to dive - if brave enough - from high rock platforms.
Coastal trees with a fruit which look like pineapples and with strong aerial roots - so beautifully large and suited for walking that I can’t help but call them Ents and give them a touch lightly when passing - live in the spaces between the sea and the cliff.
I left behind Bushfires and Group Homes, Fukushima and Financial Duplicity to happily take a river cruise and other delights and just be a tourist - taking a brief break.
I don’t think I’ll have much to say here that I haven’t already said after this communication.
We need changes in our consciousness - or I do.
Before I left, I played at the Portland Spring Fair - just west of the major Blue Mountains bushfires which centred on Lithgow to the west and Springwood to the east.. I loved playing there. I loved the way in which we were able to play in the Grandstand of a small country town’s showground area. I loved the stalls and the vintage truck display and the fact that the whole enterprise brings people together.
Got back last night and played this afternoon at the local Blackheath Rhododendron Festival. It was great fun ... I think it’s ‘fun’ .... perhaps because I come close to being ‘alive and in the moment’ when playing.... and it’s not too different to jumping out of an aeroplane - which I only had the impetuous courage to do once - and that was in my early twenties.
What can I say?
9/11 - Israel ‘done it’
Don’t believe me? I should hope not. Do your own research....... whoo hoooo and sideways into .... “I would if I could and although I should I don’t. Why is that? It’s because although I will it because I know it to be true, I don’t feel that I’m able or capable to do it and therefore choose not to fulfill my obligation.”
All wars and revolutions? Both sides financed by the same privately owned tribe. Who are they?
Where are we now? ... hmm ... essentially in the hands of God - which may or may not result in a personal nasty death which is going to come sometime anyway and doesn’t last forever.... but ... not to fear ... it’s only a curtain drawn on the part we play today but ... it does signify something.... regardless of Shakespeare. There’s a wonderful transcendent beauty in the way in which we give meaning to our brief lives and - to my mind - it does more than ‘signify nothing.’
Every moment exists both in the now and eternally. I don’t know how I know that but I do.
Belinda plays flute, keyboard and trumpet and happily joins me onstage for these local gigs as does Raine who is a belly dancer and a drummer - which is quite a combination. Peter plays rhythm and either Bruno plays lead or John plays bass.
Put yourself in my shoes. I wrote a few poems and I learned a few chords so it’s quite something to play with musicians who appreciate my small gift.
A great joy, on this holiday, is to receive the chords and lyrics to Leonard Cohen’s exquisite song ‘Hallelujah.’
I offer it here as a parting gift which I’d love to have had the good grace to have written.... I play it in E or in D .... C being too low for community choral comfort. And please don’t count on the chords being in the ‘right place.’
To make sense of the song, it helps to know that David was a Jewish king who lusted after the wife of one of his bravest soldiers whom David sent to the front lines in order that he be killed and his wife be set ‘free.’
As far as love goes ... on that personal level .... I do relate to this song and wish - whoever you are - well.
HALLELUJAH
C Am
I HEARD THERE WAS A SECRET CHORD
C Am
THAT DAVID PLAYED AND IT PLEASED THE LORD
F G C G
BUT YOU DON’T REALLY CARE FOR MUSIC DO YOU
C F G
WELL IT GOES LIKE THIS, THE FOURTH, THE FIFTH
Am F
THE MINOR FALL AND THE MAJOR LIFT
G Em Am
THE BAFFLED KING COMPOSING HALLELUJAH
F Am F C G C
HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH
C Am
WELL YOUR FAITH WAS STRONG BUT YOU NEEDED PROOF
C Am
YOU SAW HER BATHING ON THE ROOF
F G C G
HER BEAUTY AND THE MOONLIGHT OVERTHREW YOU
C F G
SHE TIED YOU TO HER KITCHEN CHAIR
Am F
SHE BROKE YOUR THRONE AND SHE CUT YOUR HAIR
G Em Am
AND FROM YOUR LIPS SHE DREW THE HALLELUJAH
F Am F C G C
HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH
C Am
BABY I’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
C Am
I’VE SEEN THIS ROOM AND I’VE WALKED THIS FLOOR
F G C G
I USED TO LIVE ALONE BEFORE I KNEW YOU
C F G
I’VE SEEN YOUR FLAG ON THE MARBLE ARCH
Am F
BUT LOVE IS NOT A VICTORY MARCH
G Em Am
IT’S A COLD AND IT’S A BROKEN HALLELUJAH
F Am F C G C
HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH
C Am
WELL THERE WAS A TIME WHEN YOU LET ME KNOW
C Am
WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON BELOW
F G C G
BUT NOW YOU NEVER SHOW THAT TO ME DO YOU
C F G
BUT REMEMBER WHEN I MOVED IN YOU
Am F
AND THE HOLY DOVE WAS MOVING TOO
G Em Am
AND EVERY BREATH WE DREW WAS HALLELUJAH
F Am F C G C
HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH
C Am
WELL MAYBE THERE’S A GOD ABOVE
C Am
BUT ALL I’VE EVER LEARNT FROM LOVE
F G C G
WAS HOW TO SHOOT SOMEBODY WHO OUTDREW YOU
C F G
IT’S NOT A CRY THAT YOU HEAR AT NIGHT
Am F
IT’S NOT SOMEBODY WHO’S SEEN THE LIGHT
G Em Am
IT’S A COLD AND IT’S A BROKEN HALLELUJAH
F Am F C G C
HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH