ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

It like history repeating itself isn’t it, I’ve included a stanza from a poem written the last time. Though this time the fires are still burning, and the smoke is everywhere.
Of course, it’s not just animals and people it’s every other living thing that once lived there.

Excerpt from 2009 poem
It looks so like a war zone strewn with as and blackened wood;
the poignant piles of rubble where the houses had once stood.
The choking smoke has blown away; the killer fires now out,
but long will hearts be breaking with so many lives in doubt
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Every Life is Precious

Now the valleys are so silent, and the hillsides black and bare,
and a million creatures may have died; that once had lived out there.
Burnt and blistered animals; among the few that have survived,
are now sadly all that’s left to save, where thousands had once thrived.

When that avalanche of flames swept through here like a tidal wave,
killing creatures large and small and leaving very few to save
In my wild imagination then I thought I heard their cry,
as a million lives had perished when the killer flames swept by.

So, we now all look for rainbows here, or clouds that may bring rain,
that will wash away the ash and scars and help life start again.

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©T.E. Piggott

Good ink Terry - I'm with you Mate, seeing pictures of the little Koala on Kangaroo Island and pictures of our brumbies - most of them OK but some burned around the face and hocks, brings me to tears. All we can do is what we can, whatever that may be and as poets, try to make sure that the world doesn't forget - this must never happen again. Bushfires of course will always be a part of our country, but of this magnitude? - NO! We must all take responsibility to ensure that our Govt doesn't allow it to happen again.

Beautiful and sad, Terry...Though so far away, I too have heard their cry in my imagination loud and clear and been brought to tears by their terror, bewilderment and suffering.

Thanks Maureen & Catherine.

Bushfires impact the whole echo system - but somehow it jumps right back - thank God.

Terry

You're right I reckon, Terry, the whole system depends on relationships which are now shattered. We have had a couple of days of good rain but we are a long way off recovery.

Well said, Terry - it is a sad situation for us all, and a life-changing one for those who have lost homes and property. Sad too for the destruction of our beautiful wildlife and their habitat.