These are poems from a dry country, and the author's climatic concerns have found their way into his emotional landscape. He is a traveller in an ancient land who contrasts lush, well-watered gardens and valleys full of growing grain with wind-scoured deserts and parched horizons.Music flows through the heart of these poems - the still, sad music of humanity - and the unalterable verdicts of time, the seasons and disillusionment. There's a hint too of Gothic fantasy, and the epigrammatic quality of Chinese poetry. Above all, there is affection and love and the silken touch of lovers, remembered and living still.Allan Stephenson was born on 7 May 1953 in Brisbane, the youngest of four siblings in a working-class family. He was educated, predominately in the state school system, to Grade Twelve level. He worked in numerous jobs and lived in many various places throughout Australia until he married in 1978. He and his wife settled in Brisbane and had a daughter. He is currently semi-retired.