Nicole's Forest

The September wind rustles the leaves and cradles their seeds through the green,
welcomed by the sun that drapes the flowering tops of trees.
Ants float along against fallen logs. Wind whispers to this gumtree:
Everything is at ease. It is
that time of birth when saplings become trees, and the wind
carries the gumtree’s seeds and this is why the wind is called
A breath: it is life.

Soon the distant wind will blow nearer, and nearer,
Bringing red, then grey,
Now the wind devours: slurps the leaves, the sticks and the trees.
The fury’s tongues lick around for more to eat, and still it is angry.
But the forest knows it will survive.

The birds next year still will sing, and happily 
Will come their half-fledged chicks. Green will come again,
And the sun is always there to drape that green carpet
Where leaves rustle in the wind.

Like the phoenix these gums fall and flourish every year:
Like the rings that every year are written into the trunk.

Like every other time the distant wind blows,
Cradling seeds through the green.