The Volunteer Firefighter

I'd like to share this poem I wrote out of respect and appreciation for all our volunteer firefighters.

All the men and women who risk their lives and give tirelessly to protect our beautiful country Australia.

Australia is at war with bloody red flames

burning our land until charcoal remains

Volunteer Firefighters, our heroes of hope

Risk their lives through billowing smoke

Through the crackling intensity and dreadful smell

Their eyes are straining as they push through hell

Pausing momentarily and gazing around

Seeing wildlife perishing – ash to the ground

Thirsty and shocked animals whimper with pain

They know our fauna will never be the same

The fighters may grab their water to share

with a wounded koala in a state of despair

Shattered, the fighter stares up in vain

Willing the heavens to send down rain

Though weariness shows on each blackened face

They won’t allow fatigue to slow down their pace

Julie Annette King

The Eucalyptus Tree

I lay beneath your canopy admiring your silvery leaves

Before a wash of sky, I rest in spellbound ease

Your foliage so appeasing in shades of blue and green

Diffusing your balmy oils thus palliative and serene

Supplying me with oxygen, guarding my precious wealth

Reducing air’s pollution - essential to human health

You shed your outer ribbons of bark in summer each year

Revealing a radiant surface so colourful, smooth and sheer

Fundamentally affording Koalas substantial, nourishing feed

Generously protecting wildlife, providing homes and seed

Native flowers ooze nectar, attracting swarms of bees

Birds peck at gumnut pits, devour them easy as peas

So grounded and assured as your roots do fondly creep

Embracing Mother Earth connected, strong and deep

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