For two years
I have harvested no vegetables from my garden.
Twelve raised beds that used to grow
beans and beetroot,
corn and carrots,
Leeks and lettuce.
No more.

The God of Exodus
sent plagues upon the lands of the Nile,
pharaohs who kept slaves and captives.
Blood and frogs,
lice and flies,
locusts and hail,
and more.

What have I missed
In keeping my family fed, sustainable, green?
Such intense heat then summer rain:
beans and green aphids,
tomatoes and mildew,
leeks and tiny mites,
and more.

This year,
my world lies fallow, full of weedy grass.
Nothing planted, my life harvests
death then loneliness,
pain and broken sleep,
a void and depression.
Please: no more.

But Crimson Rosellas
feed on weedy seeds.                                                                                       


		25 October 2023