I Told the Sun My Secrets

I stepped into the stony field,
Behind the babbling stream,
The grass in emerald array,
The walk — a silent dream,

Up the inclined mountain track,
That skirts the farm of old,
My feet in jarring twists and snags—
In search of a foothold,

The valley vista, spanning long,
Into the distant blue,
The viaduct, a concrete snake,
In dreary, leaden hue,

A haunted path — with me the ghost,
The spectre that returns,
Along a trail of secret twists,
Through red gum trees and ferns,

And up upon the ridge I climb,
And see abandoned things—
A barbecue and rusted car,
In nettled growth that stings,

A musing mind to fathom years,
Now swept into the haze,
The objects of old ages spent—
Long dissipated days,

The panoramic scene, so bold,
With undulating valleys,
The sun — like a Pacific flare,
Above the green-capped alleys,

I greet the solar presence high,
And explicate my sorrow,
The overwhelming mill-stone weight—
Misgivings for the morrow,

The numbers that we must sustain,
Are too tremendous large!
The means to keep our lives in health,
We cannot now recharge,

The food, the fuel, the shelter needed,
To sustain our kind,
Is each day in wild dismay,
With little hope to find!

The Aztec hearts that looked to you,
With colours brightly painted,
Set on shrines in mountain climes,
Their earnestness untainted…

Pray display your profound might,
And work a solar magic,
Alleviate our bitter plight—
This cataclysm tragic,

Pray imbue us with your strength,
And fixed resolve to shine,
Against this night, in blinding white,
Lest into death we pine…

AD Lovkis, 26/07/25