Another glass of wine
There was no going back
That night on High Street
Carried as we were
Up and down the street
On a warm soft breeze
While the evening shimmered
In a glow of springtime mellow
That matched the wine and conversation.
We perambulated, happy and unsure of where to land:
Not like the explorers of all antiquity
They knew where they were headed,
My word they did.
Not for them the mystery of the journey,
No sweet Jesus –
Landfall was the only thing that mattered
Somewhere to be
Somewhere to discover
Some place to name and call their own
Only to find
When they arrived
Confirmed by sextant and by compass
People already lived there.
Inconvenient that.
And so now it can only be
Having seen the difference
Between the journey and an unknown destination
Things must always be –
Well, different.
There can be no denying now
No obfuscation of the facts
No quibbling on the margins
Of pain and dispossession –
Difference must require
An effort, by many and by me
To listen to those
Denied the right to speak
And so I was glad
Beyond the measure of a destination which is reached but once
That to keep the progress of our journey underway
You asked
For one more glass of wine
Peter Ewer holds a doctorate from RMIT University, and his work until now has focused on Australian military history. He is published in internationally renowned academic journals like the Journal of Transport History, the Journal of Military History, and a range of local history journals, including Australian Historical Studies. He is currently working on a an espionage and action novel series, featuring the dashing and irreverent Charles ‘Chappy’ Miller, set in the early days of the Second World War.
a vinification of sorts….thanks