Ghost Gums

The setting sun nestled in the valley,

Glowing in the falling dark

Upon the hills that fold together

Stood sentinals, still and stark.

A silver radiated from their trunks

To gleam with silent lustre

As the stood together 'neath the fiery sun

In a mute but lordly cluster.

Their veil of leaves, once dark and full,

That hid them all from sight,

Has fallen free to leave them bare

In a shroud of ghostly light.

As they guard the secret of the hills

Against the prying ones,

I shiver to look at the spectral stance

Of the inanimate old ghost gums.

"81"