I am on this journey,

Colliding with the stars,

I’ve passed many planets,

Including Mars.

My mind is just racing,

As I fly on by,

I pass Jupiter,

Before I say goodbye.

I hold on to Saturn’s rings,

Uranus, Neptune are in sight,

I continue to fly on by,

Pluto’s further to the right.

Comets are coming toward me,

I just duck around,

I continue on my journey,

Never touching ground.

I look out to the black hole,

Which I need to miss,

For falling down that tunnel

Would catapult me to abyss.

I turn around, head for home,

Back to Earth for me,

And pass the planets coming back,

And then it’s Earth I see.

I return home again,

And I’m safe and sound,

Feeling very blessed,

As my feet land on the ground.

A Way of Seeing

The weight of mountains

is an effortless thing

It is not measured

like the cry of an eagle

reaching

It is a silence that floats

This a becoming

within sky ‘s dimension

where the eye shifts

                   carries it

Katherine Gallagher

(from The Eye’s Circle, Rigmarole)

Acacia equisetifolia
Critically endangered – Northern Territory

I am a lonely little wattle shrub
my family name is Fabaceae (fab-AY-see-ee)
by various strange and wonderful ways I’m related to the pea.

Peas are plentiful
but my fellow family members dwindle by the day.
Acacia equisetifolia is critically endangered; so the scientists say

I’d really love to have a chat
calling out across the sandy ground, “Is anybody there?”
then hoping for an answer to float on through the humid air.

If anyone in the big wide world would like to visit me
this is where I’ll be,
Graveside Gorge
Kakadu National Park
in the Northern Territory.

I’ll put my yellow pom-pom blooms on show,
they’re a little like dandelion clocks you know.

You’ll find me in a woodland glade
of woollybutt and bloodwood trees;
they’re shady, kind and friendly
but far too big to be my family.

My seed pods need a fire to burst them into life,
a little one will do.
It rained a lot last night and I am so surprised to see,
where last season I popped a pod or two
a teeny tiny green shoot – a sprouting Mini-me.

© Diane Finlay

Acacia equiesetifolia