I can’t believe it’s been
four months
Since the heavens burst
their walls and
Rain came falling down
in that immense squall
To have seen those massive
darkened clouds
Come massing towards our
homes
In a way I’m glad I missed
that part
But I see the remains of all
that mess
It’s still around me today
everywhere I look!
Still the furniture sits
outside upon that veranda there
Still my rooms are empty, my
floors are bare
Just outside my front door
the evidence replies
As I look at the damage that
came from those great clouds
Water can be beautiful as it
trickles in fountains and ponds
But what hit our home that
day was really way beyond
The sheer force of that
torrent is still to be seen today
As I walk down the driveway
and the rocks and pebbles roll
Everywhere is evidence as I
turn and look around
In the crazy growth of
saltbush and all the trees about
So green and tall and robust
so unlike a few months ago
Everything is growing,
everything is green
But underneath their
branches that’s where the mess in strewn
There’s grass and mess and
rubble, sand and sticks and logs
The evidence of power that
water can unleash
A few drops do not matter
but this was not like that
One hundred and seventy four
mils a thunderstorm does make
A huge growling, angry monster
of ancient tales at least
No one could have tried to
face that raging beast
Uprooted trees and soil
washed down from hills above
Too much for any little
creek to hold it in
Too much for the roadside
gutters to keep in
And so it washed down
through the paddocks
Took fences down along its
path
Even a poor wombat was no
match for the storm’s wrath
The grass was flattened and
downtrodden
The piles of matted weeds
and anything in its path
Still lies in piles and
stays there as evidence of that day
Now as I search for my
firewood, carried up and washed away
I see the total carnage as
everything was up-rooted, tossed
The water was a river where
no river was before
It took everything along for
that not so joyous ride
Then dumped it willy-nilly
like flotsam on the tide
It tore through the old
rubbish dump, unearthing long lost things
Like scattered bones of
dinosaurs long buried and long dead
They looked like a skeleton,
the backbone and the ribs
Of some old farm machinery,
a long dead farmers’ aid
There it lay all naked and
sprawled in its decay
The stones so massive and
heavy near the ghost of a railway bridge
Were hoisted and moved along
unearthing old railway dogs
Everything was shifted,
moved, carried along
Until there was no where
else to go, deposited and dumped
Where ever the water had
decided, no choices given there
Nothing was untouched, not
even the old stove
All was moved and swept
along as the wave was rushed
Now it all just lays there,
the air so quiet and hushed
Now there are birds and
small creatures going about their lives
As though none of it really
happened, just a nightmare to be dreamt
But all around me on the
ground, the evidence is there
To be unearthed and
re-discovered like an archaeology site
Only no dinosaur bones are
laying, no animals of yore
Just an old rubbish dump
displaying all the accoutrements
Of a farming life gone by
and little bits of stuff and nonsense
From some families as well
as ours, I don’t know who or when
But all those bits and
pieces would tell if they could
About that stormy night in
December last
When rainstorm turned into
mighty torrent!
Right here in this drought
stricken land!
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