Lament for the Lead beater’s Possum

 

WRONG WAY GO BACK

SHRIEK in the darkness

shout at dawn

scream in morning

when wheels churn

engines whine

to snarling saw

as timbers crash

on Toolangi’s floor

Shout in parliament

scream in the street

OUR HOMES ARE TRASHED

for us no retreat

Lead beater’s screeches

blood-curdling appeal

for the life of its habitat

dragged off to the mill

voiceless to lawmaker

or forest official

no recourse to a law that

allows logging at will

Our blood is the mud

of hillside and gully

collecting in pools

as waterways sully

torn from the tree-tops

smashed to the earth

there is no returning

procreation rebirth

Shout in parliament

scream in the street

OUR HOMELAND’S DESTROYED

for us no retreat.

 

Catherine m Barnard © July 2011