Australian Sky

There is nothing more beautiful
than the Australian sky,
with its midnight blue hue
and its diamond eye--
a lonely star searching
for its band of brothers,
the Southern Cross light
and a sea of others
The Milky Way, broad and blinding
The desert tree hiding
behind a silhouette of red rock
at sunset once shining
A dark branch against a lighter sky
A rustle in the grass
A nocturnal animal's cry
Red turns blue turns grey turns black
and there is no turning back
For the sky of Australia
will always be burned
into the eyes of the onlooker,
remembered and yearned.