Mansfield Dam

The barren ground bleached by the sacred sun scantily clothed children and dogs run Trees scarred by scavenged limbs Burned in pyres as sunlight dims Low water levels recorded on painted rocks Boats cannot reach out of water docks I have seen he planet of the damned The hardened earth refuses tent stakes another hill make your Achilles ache The ground crackles then suckles in the rain lack of jobs, beer in hand men complain Barking dogs and muffled screams of passion children cry in starvation fashion music lifted by campfire plumes Angry voices friendship consumes I have walked the planet of the damned Where people's lives reduced to what they own Homeless families are not alone friendship the ultimate mark the ability to see light through the dark I have lived on the planet of the damned And life goes on without being crammed