Murray Darling Downpour

Heard the heavens fill with thunder,
pregnant with a swag of rain,
Ghostly clouds in sun pink twilight,
lightning strikes upon the plain,

Saw the mallee birds a flutter,
rising from the khaki trees,
Wings in wildly batting batches,
Snow white squadrons on the breeze,

Watching from the wood verandah,
On the lee side of the school,
Perched atop a sweeping vista,
Leaning on my teacher’s stool,

Every student hushed and fearful,
At the rumble in the sky,
Eyes wide shut and trepidatious,
At the clamour sweeping by,

Keep yourselves at ease, my comrades,
This will pass, I tell you true,
Every cracking sound an earthquake,
Bursting from the boundless blue,

Palpitating hearts a flutter,
Cataclysmic spears of light,
Caused by Zeus’s boiling temper,
Every harpoon prompting fright,

Then an easing in the weather,
One long sigh of heaven’s breath,
Frogs in chorus softly croacking,
Every student spared from death,

I look again, the land is resting,
Slaked withal from cloudburst wine,
Creatures of the Murray Darling,
Contented here in nature’s shrine…

AD Lovkis, 14/05/25