You can never go back,

they say, but

I’m not so sure.

My island home is

always there, born

again unto me, splendid

its romantic peaks,

eucalypt wooded hills

immortalised by Glover

or farmed bye-way dales,

this land of micro-climes;

of First Nation warriors and

wild colonial boys who

rode down mortality,

distaining iron chains,

and the ordinary blokes

of the Sparrow Force.

Dr David Faber is an Australian labour historian and published poet who majored at Somerset Primary School in pirates, wild colonial boys, British monarchy and imperialism. He began writing poetry at Burnie High School. He emigrated to Adelaide in 1977, fell under the spell of a Milanese admirer of Machiavelli, and moved with her to Italy in 1985, where he was a local official of the Partito Comunista Italiano. He now lives in Adelaide again, and visits Tasmanian family, friends, colleagues, libraries and archives annually. His next project is a co-authored life of Depression era Premier Albert Ogilvie.