Concrete and clay

Farewell the forest

Our forests lay rotting in piles, at the base of your new towers 
built with glee in dust and haste
While our wildlife run and cower
We look upon your lustful waste
and curse your concrete bowers!

No shelter, No mercy given

I beat my fists on your chain mesh fence,
your steel trap graders and concrete trash!
Breathtaking; The the structures you erect
Awesome; Your power!
Dead heart, blind eyes, deaf ear... 

Breath taken; The oxygen you stole!
Crushed; the leaves over which you roll!
Stopped; the cycles of carbon and water

Life taking; The magnitude of your destruction!
Life ending; The future you deliver!
The cycle of life interrupted

No creature could escape it’s fate; as you began to excavate
Shrubs and trees lay smashed and broken
You mock them all with a floral token!

Every bird is gone. They have been silenced!
Yet free you stand, with your Government licence!
Contented with your plunder.

Forgotten are those too slow,
Broken; The roots. Smashed; The branches. Scattered: The leaves
Missing; Those who ran, and the ones that crawl or slither or swim. Lost; The ones who flew

Extinguished; All who thought man’s boast, a lie
And with it all gone I sit here alone, in the dust, 
broken earth, red clay exposed to wind and sun, I groan.

I watched it all happen bit by bit, branch after branch piled up into sticks.. and I wondered, what next?
I sang and I screamed F-CK! You Bastards!

Rubbing the leaves of the turkey bush across my skin I took off my shoes and danced to the earth.
I loosened my shirt and I walked with bare feet.
I slept on the ground among the thick leaf litter, Sugar gliders and bandicoots came close for a look, ants tasted my flesh and moved on. At dawn Honey eaters boldly proclaimed their home, tiny bees continued to gather the bounty of nectar from broad ranging shrubs their legs hanging heavy with pollen balls of gold. A Stringybark forest, bases burned black in early cool fires, cycads scattered bright green new growth. A landscape in balance enveloped me, warm safe known and belonging at peace for one night.
I farewell in the forest am at home with the trees.

Stringybark blessings timeless ceremonies!
Blessed are the living. Beloved these things!

Cursed the concrete dawn and to hell with mammon towers!