March 28, 2009

THE DAY THE SKY FELL
Nana Ollerenshaw

It fell from nowhere,
cracked Bombala's heated afternoon with sound
and brought the sky
down to lie along the ground.
The massive trunk and branches
sprawled across a mangled fence,
bridged the play pit toys next door
to fill the neighbour's yard
with unexpected heaven wood.
The mass of limbs,
the spare green leaves, bark nests
amid this mighty flesh,
this huge and white untidiness
is fodder now for chainsaw,
proof that Chicken Little had a point.
The tree has given back
its space to air.
But no one dares to think
what might have been
had we been playing there
in just that tip of time and place
as we had been so soon before.

CP

Nana Ollerenshaw grew up in Connecticut, married an Australian, and moved to Australia in 1965. She changed from school teaching to nursing in 1988, and currently lives in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland.

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