S. K. Riley<p>Kookaburra<br>- Douglas Stewart</p><p> I see we have undervalued the kookaburra;<br>they think they are waking the world, and I think so too.</p><p> They gobble the night in their throats like purple berries,<br>they plunge their beaks in the tide of darkness and dew<br>and fish up long rays of light; no wonder now they howl<br>In such triumph of trumpets, leaves fall from the trees,<br>small birds fly backwards, snakes disappear into a hole.</p><p> All day long they will rule the bush as they please.<br>Perched on high branches, one eye cocked for the snake,<br>from treetop to treetop they watch the sun and follow it;</p><p> far in the west they take it in that great beak<br>and bang it against a bluegum branch and swallow it;<br>then nothing is left in the world but the kookaburras</p><p> like waterfalls exulting down from the gullies.</p><p><a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/Poets" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Poets</span></a> <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/Poetry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Poetry</span></a> <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/Kookaburra" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Kookaburra</span></a></p>