Patrick Thomas MBE has been a conductor of international repute, but many do not know him as a writer. Several books have been authored by this great maestro showing an intellect of great capacity and a spirit of true imagination.
In this publication, Thomas reveals himself as a consumate poet with 71 poems ranging on subjects from the everyday to those with more profundity. He is enamoured by the world around us, seen in poems about flora and fauna, and further, makes comment on the sustainability of the Earth with its ever-expanding population.
Some poems have even been set to music, such as “Centaur” – an Australian hospital ship which was sunk by the Japanese in 1943 killing 268 people.
Many are imbued with thoughts of great depth about life (Reverie, Mortality, A Garden’s Never Finished, Bernie Banton – An Epitaph) whilst others have comic twists (The Local Butcher).
There are poems about Brisbane and his early life (Childhood Retrospective, Brisbane Trams, My Father’s Workshop, Towser) as well as other places. This poet’s strong fascination for flowers (Australia’s Floral Symphony, A World in One Country, English Wild Flowers, Nature’s Garden, and Transvaal’s Floral Carpet), as well as birds and dogs, has produced work of very pleasurable reading, filled with metaphor and at times luscious vocabulary and turns of phrase.