frank prem | The Cheesesellers Wife

Please read this powerful poem from Frank Prem. We may all be refugees soon:

the thought I had
was a refugee

I’ve had these thoughts
before

once in a boat
upon the waters
wide

sometimes
as a thought
in the sky

but lately
I’ve been watching flame
licking at the leaves
on the trees

bringing darkness
when the sun
should shine

and I see photographs
in my newspapers

I see pictures
on the TV screen
of mamas
holding it together
the best way
that they can

of papas
crying

like the world’s gone
mad

and I count
the creatures
that aren’t where
they should be
and my thought
is just a prisoner
to the knowledge
that the world has changed

there’s no koala
there

there’s no blue-tongue

no wombat and
no kangaroo

I can’t see
a magpie

the kookaburra
isn’t laughing

no brown snake
or tiger

where is
the fairy wren

the wood ducks I remember
as a score

are there any left
I…

The Cheesesellers Wife