Told

Sometimes I think about ‘Brian Told Me’

Inane refrain of the night newsreader,

The story told by his Kinglake neighbour

Years before the Emergency sold me.

Firestorm on the hill, ember rain,

How they stood at the gate, the well-known face:

Brian turned up the drive to his own place,

The never-to-be-seen-again refrain

Unscripted, no film crew, the certain pain.

Stories he could tell till no stories left,

Ask not for whom he told, he told for thee.

The man stood on the burning decking, the

Burning sunroom, the burning future shift:

The words in storage, the same-same remains.