A Visit to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair

So restful, sitting, silent on her chair,
You deeply breathe the vista here spread out;
Dismiss our time, the breeze transports me there,
No opera house, no quay, no bridge, no doubt.

Existing in a time and space not mine,
You hear a voice, just there, beyond the tree!
She whispers; “Look! You see this chair so fine?
He carved this rock to show his love for me.

At once I saw the feeling in his heart,
Relinquished fear of former lovers past.
By simple act of kindness from the start,
Our love’s confirmed; I know now it will last”.

Undying love remembers little things,
Rejoices in the gifts a lover brings.




The above is both an acrostic poem and a sonnet. (The acrostic is formed from the first letter of each line).

Based on the Sydney Harbour landmark "Mrs Macquaries Chair", carved by (or commissioned) by Elizabeth Macquarie's husband, Governor Lachlan Macquarie in the early 1800s. Gov. Elizabeth was Gov. Macquarie's second wife, and it appears that his writings showed he never had quite the same passion for her as he did his first wife. However, over time he grew to respect and love her. I wondered what she night have thought while sitting in this chair, carved out of the rock, commissioned by her husband all those years ago. So this is what I imagined.