by Jishi Santos

Created on: September 24, 2008   Last Updated: February 29, 2012

Drought

Drought loomed over the arid land
like a grey ghost
teasing of rain.
Yet nothing happened for
years
and the farmers hoped upon hope
that the clouds that never birthed
would come to their land.
Dust blew in the desert winds
and the only storm was one of red dirt
and as the cattle
got thinner heartbreak set in
and they died and the sun grew hotter
yet that spirit of never give in
persisted and held the people
together.
It was now four to five years
without rain
sounds like hell and it was
the ground cracked and shrank
and the trucks carrying water from
far away
saved the day for a while.
They said it was El Nino
and its journey
from South America
not carrying the rain as far as Australia
that year
and that year
and the next year.
Whatever caused it
the farmers hearts were breaking
and their farms were aching
from lack of water
and then one day
the heavens opened
and the ground
sucked the rain down
as if in one big thirsty
gulp
and my wife and I saw this day
when travelling through
the outback of
New South Wales
and we were happy for the wild
goats and all the animals
and the farmers
for they could survive
the worst drought
for ages.

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