Walking Away

beyond the window

a net of roots

stitches the creek bank

to battered earth.

red dust swirls,

seeds lie

in cracks and crevices

patient for rain.

paddocks of brittle stalks

fill the space between us,

overhead a crow flaps

its caws encircling

our silences—

a storm front builds

bringing hope

… do I walk away

shadows of thoughts

shift through my head,

things left undone.

the piles of red dust.

each step leaden now

falling grit fills footprints,

blurs the distant tree line.