Week 37: gum ... HOSTAGE TO THE GUM by Sheryl Gwyther It waits … as natural hunters do. Ruthless. Patient. Biding its time. The forest of towering eucalyptus thrives, as its species has done since the great south land split from mother Gondwana, and set its own path. Adapting, growing in strength and majesty, evolving to fit this great south land like a glove. Strappy leaves, toughened by time, shimmer in a volatile, blue haze above the horizon. Bark peels in shards of colour … white, ochre, orange and black. Worn-out leaves litter the forest floor. Seed capsules await the seasonal change. The hunter bides its time. Newcomers build beside the forests now. Houses of wood and stone, gardens and pools, driveways and lawns. Humans who love the natural bush. The smell of eucalyptus on the morning breeze. Serenity. Humans know its habit. But when do humans ever learn from history? They seek to control the land. In the end they’re all hostages to the gum. The hunter takes no hostages. A feast awaits. It bides its time. The season comes early. Dry winds rush across the grasslands and up the slopes. Eucalypt forests shed the last of their litter. Ready for regrowth. For the time of seeds. Old-timers frown and sniff the air. Mutter about a bad season. Some take notice, many don’t. Life goes on. The hunter shivers with instinct. Soon. Temperatures creep ever upwards that day. Hot, dry winds surge across the hills. All it takes is a careless human. Cigarette from a car window. The hunter sucks the tiny glow. It flares in response, then feeds on a crackling, dry leaf. It races over the ground, riding the wind, up into the forest canopy. It’s too late to stop it now. The hunter savages the forest, growing in strength, in noise, in power. Ferocious. Wild. Black smoke. Red. Orange. Flames. Faster. Fiery embers. Eucalypt oil increasing its power, as it has for millennia. Out-racing humans, houses, animals and cars. Gum trees and fire. Ancient friends. Ancient enemies. Partners in crime. © Sheryl Gwyther 333 words The image is an section of one of mine. The Fire Element Door, installed at The Gap High School Library, Brisbane.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 02:40:07 +0000
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