If it’s true that Canberra does exist

and is not simply a state of mind,

what are we to make of this monument

to mind over matter?

 

What can we say of the soul

of this planners’ fantasia

with sheep at the fringes?

 

Is it necessary and sufficient proof of its heavenly value

that angelic children play on Parliament’s roof

while the enchanted forests are shredded

in the national interest?

 

Is this God-as-machine all we can reasonably ask and,

if we have created it in our own image,

where did we find such a sideshow alley mirror?

 

The answers are not apparent

but a suggestion, if I may,

in the interests of perspective.

 

Take an occasional mythic journey

and observe the underlying sheep

grazing resolutely at the edge of reality

and hear the bleating of the new-born lambs

who are neither content to be silent

in the heart of this land nor

in the back of your mind.