Easter at Waralilly
I write this in anticipation of the guns,
the echoing of gunfire off the houses.
The reeds around the swamp
do not so much give back an echo
as bear witness to untimely death.
Not the death and re-birth of the god,
the coming of spring on the other side of earth.
Here it is autumn and the days are closing in.
Humans pray in churches
and give thanks that they are saved.
Out here, who bears witness save the reeds and bushes
and the few who stand, not in a church,
but beside the water where the ducks are shot?
They watch and count and film,
hoping that their presence might one day save a life.
Easter rituals ignore what goes mostly unrecorded.
But I mark each death here in my poem,
and record how men with guns shoot birds for entertainment,
while a god dies for their sins and is born again.
‘Easter at Waralilly’ was first published in Catchment 6 poetry of place under the Baw Baw Arts Alliance’.
I am the author of thirteen novels including two mystery quartets. Two of my novels, One for the Master and Ruth, have been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin award. The first of my Canberra based mysteries was joint winner ACT book of the year. I have published many short stories in journals and anthologies, along with essays in Australia’s major newspapers and journals. I have recently returned to writing poetry.
