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Marilyn Humbert

Traces

door ajar—
a book of nursery rhymes
covered in cobwebs

The creek is swollen with muddy water, currents gnaw at the bank, undercutting earth below the waterline. Rolling seas of knee-high green paddocks are a matted carpet of burrs and thistles. The five-wire boundary fence is sagging, gates hang askew. A rusty red tractor waits near the lean-to shed.

On the wind a faint echo of Mum singing fly me to the moon. My brothers are shadows. Dust overlays my footprints.

father’s voice
in the crow’s caw
winter chill

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About the Author

Marilyn Humbert lives in the Northern suburbs of Sydney NSW Australia. Her tanka and haiku appear internationally in journals and anthologies. She also publishes prize-winning free verse poems.