Pamela Jane Barclay Brown (born 1948) is an Australian poet.
A younger sister is someone to use as a guinea-pig in trying sledges and experimental go-carts. Someone to send on messages to Mum. But someone who needs you - who comes to you with bumped heads, grazed knees, tales of persecution. Someone who trusts you to defend her. Someone who thinks you know the answers to almost everything.
In a world gone bad, a bear - even a bear standing on its head - is a comforting, uncomplicated, dependable hunk of sanity.
We expect too much at Christmas. It's got to be magical. It's got to go right. Feasting. Fun. The perfect present. All that anticipation. Take it easy. Love's the thing. The rest is tinsel.
Always smile back at little children. To ignore them is to destroy their belief that the world is good.
Medicines may be necessary. Flowers lift the heart. But your smile is the best restorative of all.
Mothers are the pivot on which the family spins, Mothers are the pivot on which the world spins.
Bears need people. People need bears.
Dads don't need to be tall and broad-shouldered and clever. Love makes them so.
The work of a garden bears visible fruits-in a world where most of our labours seem suspiciously meaningless.
Sisters never quite forgive each other for what happened when they were five.
If your sister is in a tearing hurry to go out and cannot catch your eye, she's wearing your best sweater.
A horse can lend its rider the speed and strength he or she lacks - but the rider who is wise remembers it is no more then a loan.
The courage of very ordinary people is all that stands between us and the dark.
Give a pup a home and a little love and he will give you his heart forever.
Human beings are drawn to cats because they are all we are not — self-contained, elegant in everything they do, relaxed, assured, glad of company, yet still possessing secret lives.
For sheer excitement you can keep movie premieres and roller-coasters. An empty white canvas waiting to be filled. That's the thing.
A dog wakens your heart to joy and companionship.
Brooks too wide for our leaping, hedges far to high. Loads too heavy for our moving, burdens too cumbersome for us to bear. Distances far beyond our journeying. The horse gave us mastery.
Sisters annoy, interfere, criticize. Indulge in monumental sulks, in huffs, in snide remarks. Borrow. Break. Monopolize the bathroom. Are always underfoot. But if catastrophe should strike, sisters are there. Defending you against all comers.
The baby rises to its feet, takes a step, is overcome with triumph and joy - and falls flat on its face. It is a pattern for all that is to come! But learn from the bewildered baby. Lurch to your feet again. You'll make the sofa in the end.