Favourite Poems - Edna St Vincent Millay - Eight Sonnets V

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,I have forgotten, and what arms have lainUnder my head till morning; but the rainIs full of ghosts to-night, that tap and sighUpon the glass and listen for reply;And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain,For unremembered lads that not againWill turn to me at midnight with a cry.

Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:I cannot say what loves have come and gone;I only know that summer sang in meA little while, that in me sings no more.
Edna St Vincent Millay - Eight Sonnets V
See also this beautiful poem - Love Is Not All

The Distant City

The Gold Coast from Mermaids at Burleigh Heads. Click the heading for more photos. There is also a live beach cam here

The Gold Coast feels like the beginning of everything; the sharp, clear light has touched nothing for a thousand miles until this sandy promontory merges with the ocean at Burleigh Heads. Here Mermaids, my favourite beach bar in all the world, draws people for its awesome views and superb wine, food and music. Sit outside with your feet in the sand with a glass of Vasse Felix or Cullens, or inside beside the unbroken slab of mermaid-green glass which serves as the bar, and watch the surfers take the last waves and know that you are in one of the finest places on earth.

December 2011 Update: Sadly, it's no longer so special, and is renamed Meech's. But the view remains superb!