Today’s Throwback goes back to August 2019, just months after my second and third strokes — a time when the days were dim, and every movement felt uncertain.
Finding this poem again reminded me how far that long road has stretched. The wattlebirds I photographed today — wings lifted, rising into open sky — feel like symbols of that slow, determined recovery.
This revised piece holds both the struggle and the light that followed.
Long, Long Way (Revised)
I’ve come a long, long way
I remember the bad, bad days
When yesterday’s were dark and grey
On level seven, under heaven’s archway
Lying there immobile and prone
Waiting for the etching of my gravestone
Unable to hear my silent headphones
Unknowingly, spinning inside a black cyclone
I awoke somewhere outside my world’s twilight zone
Slowly realising I’d been saved, and finality was postponed
The soundtrack to those long, long days — and the light that followed.
.
Until Eyes Hear Sound
Amazon >> Amazon.com : Until Eyes Hear Sound
Lulu Books >> Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)
Perceptions:
Amazon >> Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >> Perceptions (lulu.com)
Tullawalla:
Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books
OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com … and I can send you a PayPal account,
for the Book, plus Postage.
Ivor Steven © July 2026
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 