Ashes

Charred wood and ash 
stink, after fires
in Garigal high-country.

A single crow cries
road-side, on a black tree-post
guarding road kill –
a round brown wallaby
with feet stuck-up.

Ash covers ash:
grey dust lies still...

until rain drizzles sweet liquid,
wets dirt, licks seeds, nudges life.
Seeds swell, unfold, 
lift leaves to prick the air :
grass-whiskers spring up.  

Fat globes of summer-rain spill 
between sandy soil-crumbs 
where roots sip  silver water.

One tomorrow, black-skinned scarred tree-trunks will sprout leafy chests,
and white cockatoos will screech graffiti over skies patched with clouds. 

Once more, warm lips of wallabies will graze over green grasses, 
nibbling: blessed again.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2024

Poem

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One Avatar
January 9, 2024 at 11:57 AM
Your poem is a masterful exploration of destruction and renewal in nature. The use of vivid imagery, sensory details, and the cyclical structure of the narrative beautifully convey the impact of fire and the subsequent rejuvenation of life, leaving the reader with a sense of hope and appreciation for the enduring resilience of the natural world..
Swan Avatar
January 9, 2024 at 3:11 PM
Thank you. It still surprises me to see the renewal - every time. The black and grey looks so permament until the rain has visited.
Lawless Avatar
January 9, 2024 at 7:02 AM
OH my....this is magnificent...a eulogy and epiphany in verse. Especially like the "grass whiskers" and "graffiti screeching cockatoos". I shall have to fave this as it stopped me and made me slowly revisit it.
Swan Avatar
January 9, 2024 at 3:13 PM
Thank you. The white cockatoos are such vandals (and loud!) - and yet funny and endearing. Thankfully they don't screech at night.
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