Ignoring the brittle cries of
Protesting magpies
Circling the barbed wire fences
To hang their bloody prizes
Thorn birds hid in the blackberry brambles
And sleek eyed foxes
Dove to ground
At his passing footsteps
If he was worried
He showed it not
But continued to put one foot
In front of the other
As an indifferent sun burnt overhead
Turning his skin an angry red
To the West
Great fires burned
In the blackened timber
Licking candle tongues to the sky
Blotting out the horizon with great black plumes
In his chest his heart burned
Beat a beat for every step
Turned and boiled
Caught in his throat as he choked it down
To the South
The ocean rose up hills
And down cliffs
Flung itself into the ever greening tree line
As each emeraldneedle fought for the light
His eyes only saw the dark
The near black blue of deepest water
Where monsters turn
On the heels of broken ships
And wheel their mouths open
To devour whole
But here
On this Iron Road
He walked with purpose
If not a bit of a limp
And animals scurried from his path
To the under brush
His eyes never raised
His voice died in his mouth
And none marked his passing
Save the gentle puffs of red, red earth
That settled in the dead air
And did not stir again
