kangaroos

You occupy a land of reds and browns,

Of flame and water, and hard rock;

You move through eucalyptus scrub

And tinder grass, across a land so thirsty

That it aches; and yet you yourself are grey

And red and soft, and take your tiny young

Into the warm comfort of a maternal pouch,

Bound and leap across a landscape

Bathed in birdsong; the kookaburra,

The pink galah your minstrels;

Under these stars, dipping and wheeling

Through their southern night, you sleep on dust,

Part of our dreams, part of our symbolism

You cross small segments of the sky.