Once the cream of the gold
called too lustily to the youth
and tickled his hungry, plummy ear,
he raised tacks and sheets for near on three months
then hoofed it across a continent
to bring out the brilliance living in dusty hills
and under waterworn stones.

Being wide awake to the nearby fruits
which liven the fire in this ancient land,
so much is in this youth’s favour
as he fills his sugar bag with colour
again and again.

But when new explorers please themselves
and knap every likely-looking thing,
they pick the eyes out of the parcel
and cast as mullock all surviving beauty.