I can't see those hills

We can't control the sun or the clouds that soon gather 

We can't control the rain that falls on far horizon

Appearing as a scrape of grey by the master painter

Then wiped clean, we know those hills will be green

I wish I had your winning formula

The ability to block the sunlight with one hand

When it's too bright for the morning, too much for the day

I can't see those hills defined by the skyline

Etched with tussocky shrubs and rocks

I can't see the paths that lead up that high

Or the small paths worn by padded paws

I can't see the waterfalls running under tall grasses

Or the rock collections that disturb the flows 

I can't see over the next rise or range

It's hidden from me here, where I stand

I see the river drying up, slimy pools darken

Slowly diminishing in size until birds abandon them

The stream slowing with each lunar cycle

The trees stand witness to the current horror

Yet they don't call it that

With charcoal spines and naked roots

They drink in broad daylight, not ashamed

Hollows carved by bugs, shaped by wind

These holes are framed with jagged edges

Ripped out limbs gone cold leaving black scars

There is no shame in the silhouette 

lit faintly by the new moon

red heart beside hidden tumors

the canopy sleeps until the earth tilts again

Is there no weariness in the tree?

Whose problem will it be when the river roars again

Soaking dead root systems, loosening compacted soil

What was baked by the sun, porcelain statements

Becomes a miry pit, a stinking mess of mouldy grass heads

Mocking the fresh shoots, found seeds defying logic

The tree near the river edge

once proud limbs, a bird's chorus stage

covered in iron bark, untouched by time

        Falls

carried downstream by waters too strong

Whose problem is it now? 

One that is stronger halts the debris

snapping the dead boughs

creating violent sculptures breaking society norms

these strong structures have resilient root systems

holding a new collection of wood, not belonging but making,

making new dams for waters to gouge deeper routes.