I wrote this piece about the unimaginable tragedy that has happened in Australia.

Koala

I used to sleep
High up in the trees
Basked in the fresh air
And sunlight

The songs of the birds
Such a sweet melody
Flying so free above my homeland
Close by my brothers and sisters

When nightfall would come
I’d chew on my leaves
And gaze at the stars through the branches
If you could have seen that boundless black sky
You would have thought you were dreaming

So beautiful, so pure
Our own sheltered world
We never thought
That one day it would all be gone

I’ll never forget that smell in the air
Somewhere a fire was burning
I looked to my left
My mother was there
Her eyes alert with worry

When morning broke I was still wide-awake
And watched the sun succumb to grayness
The stench in the air
Grew strong with the wind
And the minutes passed by like hours

But my eyes grew heavy
And I went to sleep
Maybe I prayed
This was all just a bad dream

But I was awoke by a terrible roar
And the sky had changed gray into orange
Panic struck in
But where could I go
The smoke quickly came all around us

Gripping tight to the tree that I called home
My thoughts were of
My friends and family
I knew that they were as fearful as me

All I could do was be forced to watch
As the fire moved in with a furious sound
The flames leaped high
Like the devil’s own hands
Coming to take what they wanted

I closed my eyes
And envisioned the time
Growing up so free and so happy
But smoke choked the air
I could barely breathe
Water it sounded like heaven

The fire it passed but nothing was left
Except a few barren trees
The brush turned to ash
My mother and brother and sisters were gone
And so was my homeland

I slowly climbed down onto the ground
Weak, frightened and thirsty
With tears in my eyes I went as far as I could
Until I saw him standing there with arms open

I had always been taught
To be leery of man
But we both grew closer
And as we met I latched onto his leg

He fed me water
And looked at my burns
That until then I hadn’t had noticed
I could sense his sorrow and pain
And for a moment our hearts beat together

That’s when I saw others come in
To try to save what they could
So maybe I’ll make it
But where will I live
My whole world has been taken