Farm life

By guest poet Anthony Dunk

Old tractor limping along
Rusty fences, termite-ridden posts
Cattle with white, infected eyes
Murdered chickens in shallow graves
Calves ripped apart by wild dogs
Droughts, floods, freezing winters
Burning summers, in endless succession
Head-high weeds, saplings everywhere
The never-ending quest to subdue nature.

Mist rising over the creek at dawn
Everything a verdant shade of green
Fat cattle wallow in the cool creek
Horses graze in knee-high grass
Strolling along the pebble-lined creek
Picking wild blackberries
Yellow sunset on the mountains
Wallabies hop out of the forest to feed
A cosy fire on a winter night.

Photo and text: © 2023–2024 Anthony Dunk