#13 Kevin Brophy 'Weather again'

Today we move the dripping hose
from tree to tree. No bird in the sky.
We sweat inside but it's worse outside.
The cat has disappeared into shadow.
Some of us blame the politicians.
Some dream of moving nearer to a river.

Outside the oven door is open
but it is only weather out there,
where there are trees to stand under
while we wait for a larger mind,
a cooler heart, a more existible eye,
perhaps an answer
in the shape of wind or thunder.

I read it took 30,000 years of weather
for this continent
to be wholly populated,
end to end and through the deserts.
Today the dripping hose beneath
the stunned camelias delivers
tepid messages to the dusty earth
as we fear how much weather
there is ahead of us.