Ashes of a Once Peaceful Land

I gently lay my head on a Lily Pilly bush,

I lie under the hot Australian sun as its rays shined down on me.

I felt leaves, brush against my face, swaying with the wind.

I felt my fingers touch the warm clay ground, rocks embedded in it.

I look up high into a eucalyptus tree,

where a koala gently gnaws on a leaf.

I closed my eyes, lying in the bush,

at peace with the world…

Suddenly, the ground violently rumbles and shakes,

waking me from my dream in a far away world.

The sky turns orange, ashes dance in the wind.

Towering flames, like the tongue of a mystical beast,

devours everything in its path.

Trees that had once stood proud and tall, slowly disintegrate,

their branches snap and cackle in the intense heat.

A ball of grey fur clings to the last tree in the sunset horizon,

shaking with fear as he scans the burnt and foreign landscape,

that had once been his beloved home.

A scene of chaos and devastation, a violent reminder of nature’s raw and unforgiving

force.