Unconditional Rose 2

By Amber Jo Illsley

A selection of 101 poems in this illustrated collection take you through the varying dimensions of the spiritual realm, cat antics, the blues, legends, rediscovering friendship, tongue-in-cheek humor, nostalgia, and tributes to important people.

I have known Amber Jo Illsley for many years. I am a very prosaic kind of writer, but we need a poet of Ambers talents to bring to our attention the wonders of our environment. Her book of poetry will bring to life for you a very wide range of topics, from humor to spiritual in nature, being expressed in her own distinctive way for your enjoyment (Gary Laughlin Jeffery, BSc, writer, apiarist, and animal rights supporter.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Sep 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504303149

Amber Jo Illsley

Award-winning poet Amber Jo lllsley was born in New Zealand's northern South lsland, and now lives in lnvercargill, New Zealand's southernmost city. This is her 4th collection of her poetry, but first specifically about cats.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 Amber Jo Illsley.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-0313-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-0314-9 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 08/30/2016

27647.png

Contents

Aladdin’s Hill (1)

Aladdin’s Hill (2)

Alexander

A Listening Time

A Look Back

A Look Beyond The Looking Glass

A New Direction

Angel Faces

Another Dimension

Another Life

A Riverton Back Yard

A Shop Assistant’s Lament

Because I See

Bern Bahnhof Blues

By Fairdown Beach

Can We Begin Again?

Christmas Friend

Coming Home

Dancing Shadows

Danielle

Dividing Time

Do We Feel The Same?

Earthquake

Endless Parallels

Even If

Fields of Green And Gold

For David

For Elma

Forest’s Night

For Sandy

Friday Night

Full Circle

Grieve, Walls

Gypsy

Hold Out, Self

How We Love The Cowshed

I Know A Garden

I’ll Always Remember

I Never Was Me

Interlude

In The Golden Bay Heat

In The Other Room

Into Oblivion, Cold Charity

I Saw You Again

I Saw You Then

I Say Not A Word

Isobel

Jude

Katydid

Last Summer

Let Me Love You By Day

Mattson’s Truck

Midnight Dreams

Mother Hen’s Lame Ducks

Mother Love

Naughty Dog Seth

New Brighton Beach

Now That I’ve Found You

Ode To Avalon

Only A Heartbeat Away

On Marriage

O, Small Bird

Overflowing Hearts

Philosophy

Photograph On A Shelf

Plant

Precious Beryl

Railway Tracks

Rise, O Brothers!

Siren’s Call

Sister’s Arrival

Sun Through Shadows

Sweet Charlotte Lockington

Sweet Molly Killoran

Taken By Surprise

The Carpenter

The Cat

The Dream

The Invisible They

The Old Chest

The Old Letter

The Old South Wall

There’s A Tiger In My Room

The Roadmen Cometh

The Sentinel On The Hill

The Struggle

The Sun’s Return

The Wanderer

The Waterwheel Is Turning Yet

The Wedding

Those Who Went Before

Thoughts In The Barrytown Pub

Through The Window

Time To Stand And Stare

Tourniquet

Two Lights

Unconditional Rose

Vibrations

Warm Accents

When Hope Dies

You Will Find Me Here

Acknowledgements

Dancing Shadows: from the book Reilly – A Dreadful, Adorable Cat, by Amber Jo Illsley, published by Balboa Press, 2015

Full Circle: from the book Reilly – Running Full Circle, by Amber Jo Illsley, published by Balboa Press 2015

Only A Heartbeat Away: by Amber Jo Illsley, from the International Who’s Who In Poetry anthology, published in 2012

Sweet Charlotte Lockington: from All Due To Reilly, by Amber Jo Illsley, published by Balboa Press, 2015

Aladdin’s Hill (1)

The unnamed hill in Ilford town

rose beyond the aging willows,

rounded, grassy and off-beat

within the scenery down

in the hollow of Ilford Valley.

What upthrust caused the hill

to appear as a half moon

or as a quiet man, taking the tally

of Life’s experiences therein?

Earth’s heaving breast sighed

in aeons past and protested

with leaping ground and rumbling din.

Then, in ancient times again

outwardly the hill protests no more

but inside has a score

of rambling, rumbling, secret living veins.

The small boy sits in a tree

high up, with a perfect view

of the mound that is the hill

and squints his eyes to better see

Imagination’s galloping dreams.

What secrets does the hill hide

in its rounded bosom there?

Can he hear the keening

of lost souls in the tunnels, the caves;

those who followed the legends

of a storehouse of treasures,

saved in aeons past by giant men who paved

the way for others to follow?

Who now, knows the way

to legend’s treasures?

And down in the hollow

in the valley, the hill rises up and beyond

and inspires the small boy still watching

with excited dreams of knights of old.

He climbs down, casts off his bond

of learning from his folk at home.

Take care, don’t go near the hill,

there’s something creepy there.

Although it seems only an earthen dome,

Stay away son, stay away

But he heeded them not

and approached the rounded hill

and entered the first mouth-like cave.

With trembling limbs he was drawn in

and light from glow worms lit his way.

Curiosity overcame fear and further in he went

and did not hear Aeon’s past, rumbling din.

He forgot the time and wandered still;

enthralled, fascinated and brave was he,

as he branched off and found

the treasures of the dome-like hill.

It’s true! It’s true! he said aloud

as he surveyed the bounty there,

The legends are true!

But in the eerie recesses, the sound

of his voice bounced back

and with the echo

there seemed to be another voice;

An echo of an echo? Or acoustic feedback?

But the boy knew nothing of such things

and if he had, he wouldn’t have cared.

Enthralled, fascinated and brave was he

and he loudly began to sing.

I’m in Aladdin’s Hill, he sang.

It’s finally named! I named it!

He did a little dance

and his voice eerily rang

and his shadow danced crazily

in the flickering glow worm light.

But he took no notice

though his vision grew hazy.

What treasures left by knights of old!

Rubies and sapphires and emeralds galore,

necklaces and rings and other fancy things

including those, mostly made of gold.

He shouted, he danced again

and with the echo of his shout

came another, quieter still

as the glow worms moved away.

I claim once more, the voice seemed to say

but the boy heard it not.

He showered himself with the