At dawn, along the valley's misted cusp, Comes echoing deft music of magpies. A kookaburra's raucous mirth erupts, And 'roos thump, polyphonic, down the drive. Lothario koalas belch and grunt; Somewhere, a chainsaw's sighing, toothy scream. In sunbursts, here, the world's green sunken punt Drifts on upon its geologic stream. And grasping after quiet in my mind, I try to let that earth breathe in my ear, To ford that stream, broadcast beyond the blind Carousing of the insects on my bier. The sky's a bell to resonate and ring With calls from souls at roost and on the wing.