Hot dry day

I sit drowsy under the deep, wide verandah of a towering grevillea robusta

Cool in the late shade on a hot dry day

High above, in an ocean blue sky, three crows chase a wedge tailed eagle

Twisting, strafing, shouting

Parrots gossip, propel and dart, propel and dart

Small rockets through the trees

Black cockies bliss out on bardi grubs, clawed from a dead jarrah

Shredded bark like scales beneath

Midges gather in lazy fogs, wafting in the gentle swells of air

Some trapped in the sweat and hair on my arms

Everywhere whistles, trills, caws, shrieks, tweets, screeches, warbles

Raucous wild alive

And now a rumble growing. A growling anger crawling up the valley.    Unstoppable. Inevitable. Insatiable.

Louder as it climbs, erupting, gouging, sheering. A fat, black greasy snake. Leather clad and helmeted.

All throttles open, screaming. Venomous exhaust. A coiled stench.           Man. Machine. Malevolent.

Then gone. Fumes clear. Ephemeral humans dimming, dying in the distance.

Silence

A small red chested bird chitters piercing and defiant

         A world renewed relieved

                  Riotous abundant life returns

                           To the hot dry day