Bushfire
By Ava W
Published 26 September 2023
A soft red glow, suffocating
A warmth too hot approached.
She didn’t creep. She lept.
– Those parched whistled as they fell,
A last harmony hung in the grey,
Like a bottomless pit, she hungered,
Hungered on those tall and helpless standing.
The whistles grew louder,
The horizon grew bleak.
I’ll never forget those weeks
— for a pain so bright brings scars.
My heart,
Only now mended,
In the past, my bark was a flimsy guard.