ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Folks, I apologise if the dark content of my homework poem causes you pain. Thankfully it is not related to anything in my personal life - but it was prompted by several things I read about and heard recently. I usually try to be uplifting with my verse, but unfortunately, stories like this are all too common in a world where rage is often the first response.

ELEGY
(c) Shelley Hansen 5/8/18

The scent of the dew was so sweet in the dark!
She ran on regardless, escaping the stark
reminder of pain-sodden yesterdays when
his whiplash would scald her, and sear her again.

She did not remember the deep open shaft
but heard her own scream – as he mockingly laughed.
The bushland slept silently, holding its breath –
she teetered a moment … then plunged to her death.

In drink he attempts to drown out blackest thought,
but freedom from anguish can never be bought,
for one man’s to blame for the bleaching white bones
that lie in a mineshaft, unmourned by the stones.

Wow! The words make the picture very clear and the fear tangible - and I have visions of Lightning Ridge in my head where I suspect that this scenario may well perhaps have been acted out more than once, but I guess any old mining town could also lay claim to some such happenings. You certainly made good use of the prompts in this poem. Well done.

Thanks Maureen ... yes, you are right that there may be more than one untold story with a sad ending like this one. Unfortunately there is no lighter side to domestic violence.