by Lisa Keene

Another evening on the deck

The air so hot it’s heavy on my skin

Even the old dog stretched nearby

Is too hot to move, just the odd pricked ear

Listening, waiting

My eyes drift over endless tussocks

A golden ocean in the wind

Drift until caught by bare distant hills

By clouds on the horizon

Dark, yet shimmering

I wonder if the layered greys

Hold what I need in their gunmetal curves

But they dance around the edges

Of my basin of light

As magpies call

I sit and the moon rises

The tussocks’ wild golden waves

Become a glistening silver sea

Peaceful in the lucent night

A gentle sigh

I want to sleep but I know I will dream

Of raindrops on the roof

The smell of dry earth rising

And of rain on my skin

As parched as the land

Another evening on the deck

Awake but still dreaming

Doing all that I can

I sit and listen

Waiting