Kerosene Lantern

A Kerosene lantern

A rusty glow a memory here

Ever present the darkness shines

A distant glow of birds ascends

Ankles in mud to waist

Planting the para grass

Magic as we watch it grow

The mud is warm and the sound peace

The gift of time and the castle

Rooted in an island of mud

The cattle have finished their lowing

The billy’s boiled it’s time for tea

The Marigold flower dropped into my cup

It grew and the smell brought back another memory

The orange fields the smell of clean dirt

I can hear it now.

The sheep bleating the bark of the sheep dog

I draw the cup to my lips and they burn

I leave the cup to cool and am taken on a journey

There I see the moths like snow

The Emu egg, the cattle and the wool

Free…. I run through the fields

There I loved and lost

There I fought and thought

The fields are mine.

With my skin wet from the horses sweat

Odour sweet I talk pat and play

The feeling is right I know the puppies will come

That morning before the sun shines

I see their pearly eyes.

The haystacks stand firm as the drays pull the hay

A boy lost in an enchanting world

Curious and dreaming ever breathing

Filling my soul with the richness there

I hear music

I try to play and a new song enters in

The music goes here and there

The flock of pink galahs

The shots fired.. and a scurry

It is the crow who casts his black shadow

The lambs turn to their mother

And she in turn gives the crow a look

The crow is dead now

The murderous shadow towering

Over an empty corpse

The Dew, glistening like a forest of diamonds

Webs that spell your name

A hand through ice and a horse's kiss

Quails in the long grass whilst crossing the line

Oats in my socks as we chase the sheep

The smell of the barley and the gleaming  fields 

Wheat, still green, and frost, so cold

The silos like turrets to my castle below 

The auger connects me to the classic afar 

I taste the hay and watch... as the liquid grain fills the empty stay

To the peppers I go, to see the fair maid who lives below 

With her dark hair, her ghost invites me to love

But alas, 'twas by her black velvet band 

To my tree I go and sit...whilst staring at the clouds I'd miss 

The palaces above I saw.... and now the farm below...is gone 

Like the vision I had seen

Shrouded by the cold mist and sea above

I loved this soil so rich and deep 

The dark clouds flew their banner bold across a burnt red hold

The tension mounts, as a family dance... on clods of soil to dust 

A picture taken, an image robbed

I stare up at the southern cross

A soldiers heart heavy worn and battle torn

He says to himself "Soldiers don't cry"

His eyes are droopping and his gut... ladden with lead and she says " Soldiers don't cry"

Drinking balm that cannot cure 

"Soldiers don't cry"

From one distraction  to another he tries to hide but soldiers don't cry 

 A sudden sound a jolt from the past

Ever vigilant the clock strikes three and those who know hear the dread of silent terror

She wants to know why but how could she understand... all she knows..is "soldier's don't cry"

Her probing questions are stabs to the depths 

They provoke a memory he wants to forget 

I trained to fight and my inner self speaks the words that gave me strength. "Keep on going

soldier until the going is gone and do not weep for yourself. Pour into the soil your blood

until all is spent and shed not a single tear.... Soldiers don't cry.