Sunset

tonight
the sunset is breathtaking
sleepless all night
tumbling through time
the night cry of a morepork

lit by a sickle moon
the sunset fades
hopes and wishes
turning into the stars
step by step
the night turns long
and life's dreams multiply

ANZAC Weekend

At ANZAC weekend
and a southerly blowing
the last of the summer crickets sought sanctuary
in the trenches by the concrete wall

Children played with plastic drink bottle grenades
never knowing the impact
a fact lost in distant memory and shades of khaki
brasso polished medals and parade ground manouvres

A memory of battles never uttered by fathers
returned from Crete
their memories now turned to dust
under a shrouded moon

Shooting Stars

monarchs struggling in the south-wester
the mating dance of the damned
amongst white manuka flowers
the chant of late cicadas singing
these are the shooting stars of summer
entering my atmosphere and burning up
shortly after entry

Roger Smith
2017