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Bill Higham Mar 2016
And these men that made the land,
That wove their dreams with dust and dirt,
That needed death to know the flower,
Men of the corrugated country.

Men of bones,
Propped in the rusted windy ruins,
Who watched the movement of the birds
And bartered life with sky and earth.

Men of the drought's bare-cupboard cradle,
Biblical through plague and famine,
Who struck the water in the stone
And fought with flesh to swell the soil.

Time's weathered toys,
Who sought a garden in the sand,
Where the withered streams of the dry season
Flowed with flooding summer rains.

Men of the dark deserted spaces,
That masked their ruined stars with drink,
That fed the shadows with strange desires
And drowned the broken plough with tears.
Dr McMuffles Feb 2016
your skin is like sand paper
rubbing me raw
you're words are like knives
piercing my soul
your eyes are like fire
burning straight through me
your love is like a rainy day
in a drought
Sophie Marshall Feb 2016
There she stood, staring, reminiscing the memories of the baron, dusty land. The spirits dance through the dry, heated wind reflecting the sorrows and joys that interlace her mind.

A flashback of red.
An evil waiting for death,
Forcing rains away

Crack! The old gum faints as its roots recoil from the ground. The leaves try to grasp the sky, longing for something to quench their thirst. But the happiness braids through the heartache recapturing the strength of the town when the rain never came.

Restrictions are made,
Men cart water to cattle.
The drought starts again.

The red soil is rough against her bare feet as she walks past the tall eucalyptus trees and the large boulders covered in the maroon dust. The outback is a jail, away from everything yet demonic. The sky so blue is free from clouds bringing the fire over the land with its harmful rays. The sun is a dragon, burning everything in its path, nowhere will protect you from its clutches. As she sat on the boulder shaded by a gum, she remembered the past. Heat came in like an earthquake, so unexpected. No one thought it would come; it bought nothing but desolation to the land. As the sun gazed over the baron lands, the plants and creatures melted away.

Sun’s powerful rays,
The world has become a daze.
Life melting away

She couldn’t explain how she felt, her body all just felt numb. The failure of the crops and the death of the livestock had finally hit her hard. What if the drought lasts forever? What if we never see the rain? Out of all the droughts she saw this one topped the cake. She knew she had to keep her head high, she knew she had to be strong.  But how can she do that when the lives of the town are broken and left lying around?

Dreams are too far-gone,
Death is found on every road crossed.
Everything is gone

Weeks past and a cloud formed in the sky, the kangaroos danced in the shade that had finally come almost like it’s the first time. The land looked less red but now had a brownish tinge. The towns folk looked to the sky smiling, maybe the rain will finally come again.

A cloud is in sight,
Seconds are becoming lives.
Rain rain come again.

It soon became cooler; puffy clouds rolled into the sky. The town was slowly shaded from the scorching rays. Though the sun was now almost gone the town seemed brighter, Moo! The cows sing with joy and the smiling faces of the children running around the school with so much energy after years of having to sit and eat in the heat of the sun.

Brightness of the shade,
Singing and smiling all day.
The rain is so near.


White, agile and little clouds soon turned into heavy rain-filled clouds. All life stared into the sky waiting, and waiting, then something sizzled against the burning ground. She bent over and touched the area now darker than the rest of the ground and sighed with relief, that one little drop set everyone mad, excited, relieved. That’s when the rain poured down and that’s when everyone knew that the drought was gone; we survived last time; the war has only just begun; it will come back and hit us twice as hard; but we will conquer it again.
Xan Abyss Feb 2016
the windshield is caked
with dust and decay
the air is harsh with sand and pollen
my skin is cracking in the fiery sun
and not a single drop has fallen

the Devil spins a dustbowl of sin, suffering and desperation
the crops are dying
and the children are crying
and still we lie to ourselves
about our dire situation

PRAY FOR RAIN
CLEANSE OUR PAIN
WASH THE FILTH AND DIRT AWAY
PRAY FOR RAIN
CLEAR THE STAINS FROM THE AIR
SO WE CAN BREATHE AGAIN

...is it enough yet, to change our decadent ways?
if mother earth is angry, we should listen to what she says

the fish keep dying out
from the lakes drying up
the wildfire situation worsens
our earth is hurting
as the world keeps on turning
and everything we know starts to burn

PRAY FOR RAIN
CLEANSE OUR PAIN
WASH THE FILTH AND DIRT AWAY
PRAY FOR RAIN
CLEAR THE STAINS FROM THE AIR
SO WE CAN BREATHE AGAIN
road trip lyrics. written in a la quinta hotel in fresno, on a thanksgiving trip through california. there was a giant billboard in a central valley town like porterville or merced or something, that simply read PRAY FOR RAIN in giant letters. it just smacked of old world, dustbowl desperation, and gave me an idea for a song.
Amelia Owen Dec 2015
it's been so long
i'm trying to write
but the things off the top of my head just don't suffice
maybe by tomorrow
i can write of my dreams
i can write of the things that won't fall apart at the seams
i go long periods of time without writing but i just squeezed this out of my brain
Kunal Kar Dec 2015
What strange memory serves this fate?
Why the silly sheep has lost its way?
In subterranean dungeon lies the secret,
Guarded by the wicked wolf, they say.
The Oracle of the high priest,
Along the testaments of old gods,
Has told the tale of an Apocalypse,
A due judgement against our odds.

The sulfurous land has grew a thorn,
Right in the sane hearts of men,
Like a wildfire in a scorched summer,
The lost sheep led to the lion's den.
Through these seasonal dark days,
The pristine shots of old Bourbon and the sour taste of a lemon squeeze,
Over the pages of a forgotten book,
Were now the ghost under cease.

For this old eyes has seen the waves,
That broke us down like a beach tree,
With nature bells once we played,
Now they became our arch enemy.
Through civilizations we pursued,
Shallow contemporaries and history,
We forged nuclear swords on wooden fields,
And reap the fruits of downhill misery.

We treasured the featherbrained ways to progress,
And recklessly stroke the beam of balance,
For we waged the song of disasters,
To now sing in this sulfurous silence.
As the blue water has turned to air,
The green leaves dyed themselves brown under drought,
The soil poisoned by the radioactive breeze,
And to our miseries, we all laughed, we all laughed.

So won't we plunder the right actions,
Course the way to a changing surface,
The secret of everlasting existence,
Lies in the red flames of the old furnace.

The sheep was rescued by mere chances,
For the lion was not yet born,
For this looming night is still to come,
As the world hangs on that silly thorn.
spysgrandson Nov 2015
his old arm points west,
so weighted with years, his crooked
finger aims down, to the cracked ground
more than to the setting sun

thrice in eighty plantings,
he's seen these droughts drench
the thirsty earth with white fire
but this one, he swears upon
creation, is the worst

holy houses fill with prayer
for rain--the man says this is in vain,
though the good lord hears all entreaties
he has always been miserly
with his mercies

this shall pass
he avers, but he doubts
he will see another warm summer rain
his baptismal to come as wind
from the scorched plains, one
that scatters but dry seeds for
tomorrow's harvest moons
madrid Oct 2015
11:54
Still not awake
This corpse is pleading merces
But is yet to be given
I can hear these bones crackle
At every jolt, every spasm
They keep me asleep
These lullabies

This desolate throat
Delivers none but drought
Painful, but bearable still
These swollen eyes have never before
Felt this oppressed
How I wish they knew rest

This blade, above all
Transcends the screaming sting
*****, pang
These throes that tingle
Stay silent til the morn says so
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