The Dome

I walked the fair mile to see it
Advantaged lockdown exercising
The dome stood rigidly erect
The limit of my five kilometres

My narcissism drove me here
The important poet chronicler!
And there it was the stone structure
The photos of federation fresh

Symbol of Victoria Rapacious
1888 and 1901
Kooris safely locked away from the Civil
Establishing this white heaven

Covid-era children away from schools
An ice cream van takes advantage
The march of Commerce unceasing
In this colonial town of evergrift

Around Grand Drive to Moore Park
The seat of Patrick White's genius
His literary digs slightly grander
Than my housing commission bedsit

'Patrick White poetry' I Google
He ordered it all destroyed apparently
A horsey pair clop slowly by muddy
Gentle devices of this invasion remind

No other cruelty here except fences
Or perhaps clothing on a warm day
The statue of Dickens near the pond
Britain remaining all around, always