It is election time on this fair land and the campaign trail marches into our kitchen before the sun.

Only a month to the winter solstice and the sun is taking its sweet time to rise above the tree line and bring its light into the kitchen.

And when it finally does turn up we know our time with it is very short.

Hence me taking full advantage this morning on the east verandah basking in the warmth listening to the chorus of aahhs rising and falling from a mob of ravens.

Autumn does as it likes to do introduces cold winds and shorter days while still flirting with summer.

The day before yesterday I swam in the ocean at Bermi -deliciously warm deliciously salty and marveled that in mid may the sea could be so warm.

But like the recent debate between our potential leaders let us ignore any talk about the climate.

 

The politicians vie with each other in untruths making promises and avoiding anything resembling common sense and humanity.

Of course acting like the toady nation we appear to resemble we also hear way too much about the campaign trail in the US where trump stirs the cauldron of hatred and divisiveness.

Beside me the eastern spinebill and the lewins honeyeaters plunge into the tank washing themselves -flying back up to a branch flicking and fluffing up their feathers  and singing in the sunlight.

scrub wrens and superb blue wrens hop about my feet and alight on the table picking up crumbs.

Well I am in excellent company because they do not vote either.

It is true , I do not vote. I cannot defend this position and nor do I need another lecture. what I will do is offer you a story instead that led me to this point many years ago.
Once upon a time there was a great Being that sacrificed all for the beings that She held in her lap. Over and beyond forever and a day She gave and gave and gave. During a particularly violent and destructive never ending season it became clear that everything was in a spot of bother and still She kept on giving.

Water and Air were running out, Elephant and Polar Bear were suffering and already many many beings had left.

Only glimpses remained.

Meetings were held and discussions were had by humans that believed they were top of the chain having supreme rights to everything. They had systems in place and the power to fix anything or so they thought.

If you vote for me I will make it better.

no me… no me… no me… no ME….

but really they all acted the same , serving their own interests and filling their pockets with things they could not eat.

The forests declined, the creatures declined.

The quality of life for all declined and so it was that we arrived at the man made 21^st century and all was not as well as it could be.

 

What if we abandoned this system of trumpism and nominations and blather about democracy and bad guys and weapons and poisons and bad guys and money and jobs and progress and bad guys and what IF..,

Well generally I am not much of a fan of the  ‘what if ‘ story so I entered upon my own solution which is hardly original but gave me somewhere to begin – a focus that  along the way has brought me closer and closer to nature…

run for the hills and live in a beautiful place surrounded by the gentle creatures of the forest

pay attention to their songs.

pay attention to the passing of clouds and the angles of the sun upon the solar panels and is there enough power to turn on the computer?

pay attention to the rain and is there enough water for a bath?

pay attention to the trees that bend and sway and hold the nests so very very far above the ground.

build a toilet out of doors and allow the human waste to compost until one  day you open the hatch at the back and dig out humus and sprinkle it around the garden.

It has been a journey and it continues on …

but what else can I do

what else can I Be  that serves this great Being that gives all and asks for so little in return?

I can sing to her I can dance for her I can cry for her.

I can nourish her hopes and respect her fears.

She is me after all.

In all honesty when I came right into the nitty gritty of earth and star and scrub wren I couldn’t I won’t I cannot …vote for a politician – a self serving dishonourable totally out of touch with heart and spirit and loving kindness.  more importantly I refuse to vote for a self serving dishonourable totally out of touch with heart and spirit system.

BUT

I will keep voting for the River and her wild leap over rocks and waves that lap on sandy shores.

I will vote for wombat that it might amble thru the dark of night stopping and pondering as it does.

I will vote for the wild creative joyous spirit of humanity to rise up and crack open the hearts of all politicians of all peoples.

And one day we might blink and look around and think wow there are no bad guys there are no walls we have to build

there are no missiles we have to fire

there are no mines we need to dig.

One day in this my utopian vision we might join with this great Being called Earth

and …….

I do not know the end to this story.

It is a story after all, but then that is the fabric of reality is it not?

we Dream and then it manifests.

So if I keep telling you and you keep telling me the stories

of the beauty and the mystery ,

the stories of feather and egg  and mist and frost and worm…

Who knows…

who knows what could possibly

BE .

 

P.S.       well I got that off my chest or where ever it was sitting some time ago  and moving on would like to mention that I am a bit of a  big fan of the greens as a group of people masquerading as a political party for their generally common decency and respect for the earth and all beings.