white blur and torn blue 

the shifting sky

restless on the bay

 

all is brushed over with a white haze of winter

pale headlands shouldering in

 

the day pauses in a blue moment

lights up he spinning gum’s frayed blossoming

dips over the dark water bowl

 

the day in close-focus

then blown, far-off

 

til the wind finds the south, home of ice

it draws a dark line along the rim of the sea,

the whole bay a long wave gathering to break

 

then breaks! in white

and blown, sunlit birds

 

and we walk in a wonder

of fractured light

 

then draw in around the fire

pay homage to the one

 

who taught us to burn

the long labour of the trees,

these limbs of old sunlight

 

a god, wasn’t it?

a god with flames in his hand