A Melbourne winter.

A Melbourne winter.

Sad flags hang loosely

Like frozen fingers

Pointing gravely

At the night sky

Summer houses

With panoramic views

Lose heat without insulation

In a faux English garden

Araucaria trees with

Skeleton limbs

Are a would be

Puzzle to monkeys

And celibate koalas

Every town house is a cliff face

When viewed from the gutter

Everybody wants to live

In Albert Park

A lamplit milky shadow

Attracts bat sized moths

As the first kiss of winter

Hits the suburbs

A sharp chill

In a salt filled wind

Fresh from the southern ocean

Brings goosebumps

To uncovered arms

A cold snap is a relative term

The air warm enough

For walking

The beach a desert

Under southern stars

Firm and cool beneath unshod feet

It is a Martian landscape

A hint of paradise

Anything is possible

Dependent on perspective

Social drinkers make

A noise saying goodnight

As an itinerant

Rolls out of sight

Under the shelter

Of a wooden pier

They all stop

To watch the fruit bats

Fly overhead

Everything within touching

Distance

Is so far apart.