A KIND OF BEAUTY

Tap shoes clapped on wet cement
That Wednesday and the merriment
Was apt, although the start of Lent
Made dance so joyous seem hellbent:
As if the penance had been spent
Before the balance showed a cent
Of earnings: 
Water, heaven-sent,
Flew, skittering from the pavement:
An answer to the cracked lament
Of firie and of resident
In blazes’ way. A sentiment
The nation shared. Despoilment
Of life and land had only rent
Hearts open – even minds unbent
Till now by the presentiment
Of climate science dropped dissent
Awhile to watch the brilliant
Full fanning splay.
The discontent,
The righteous young, the senescent
Observed alike the bless’d event
Like wise men from the Orient.
And petrichor, that earthy scent,
Reached from the graves – air redolent
Of rain. The fierce feet would foment
Fresh promises; their wild accent
Whip up a frenzy of intent:
To act for Gaia’s sake, prevent
The death-defying increment
Of two degrees. 
To what extent
Could manmade action circumvent
Trajectories that represent
An age of coal smoke up the vent?
And I, relaxed and corpulent,
Shall I? – but how? – shall I repent?
Brief burning, bright as filament,
Yet pay the piper? (And the rent?)
Or cake walk, as the others went,
Off stage and lie down somnolent
Beneath the dancing firmament
Of stars – and wonder what it meant.

– Rita Glennon

Ash Wednesday in 2020 fell on February 26. The Weather Bureau records that it was “a very wet month: some sites had their highest total February rainfall for at least 20 years; February had very much above average rainfall throughout Greater Sydney; it was generally the wettest February since 1956 in the Blue Mountains, and since 1990 or 1992 elsewhere; the bulk of the rain fell between the 7th and 10th, with peak two-day totals exceeding 200 mm at many locations; some sites had their highest February daily rainfall on record; some sites had their highest total February rainfall on record.” It came near the end of the horrific Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20.