A Poem – ‘For All the Tomorrows’

With fires raging in so many areas of our beautiful country at the moment, I wanted my blog post this week to have a positive message to all those who are suffering in so many ways. Below is a poem I wrote after visiting one of my favourite country towns, Marysville, back in February 2009, after the fires had come and gone.

I happened to visit Marysville only a few weeks ago and it was so wonderful to see the new, fire-proof buildings, thriving businesses and new green gardens filled with beautiful plants and trees.

Houses and buildings can be rebuilt but life can never be replaced.

For All the Tomorrows

 

Nothing can compare

with that first,

stark

scene . . .

burnt-out cars,

naked,

black trees,

standing

and the bald ash

lying there

waiting.

The drive in is heartbreaking

but even that does not prepare us

for the stifling desolation,

the loneliness and pain

of a little village

that used to be.

Somehow among the

masses of charcoal trees

and twisted metal,

the odd house stands,

existing among

the rubble

and muddy vacant blocks

where buildings once breathed

and sighed life.

In the middle of the main street

the wooden lolly shop sign hangs suspended,

defiant against all odds,

while across the way

in the lonely remains

of a once beautiful gift shop,

there lies a single,

opened,

white lace umbrella.

Up the road a bit there’s the seat,

it’s metal so it’s still there

and the plaque is still there too . . .

‘This is where Annie sat, and Lewis beside her.
They walked the streets of this beautiful village
over and over again.’

And all around there’s restoration,

trucks,

bulldozers,

mounds of dirt

and rubbish in

too-neat heaps

waiting to be taken away.

In the centre of town

opposite where the police station and

Christmas Shop once stood,

is the bakery,

queues snaking out the door,

electric with life

and a pulsating heart

that continues to beat on

as Marysville will.

This grand lady will return

not in the same

guise or costume,

not telling the same stories,

but a new, different, strong place will emerge,

grow

and move forward

for all the tomorrows.