I sit here

in my home

of 35 years.

Familiar surroundings.

Comfortable.

Outside the front gate

had been home, too.

The railway trees have been

a constant over time.

Their presence,

their flowers in season and with them

Bees and lorikeets

Have given me joy, and

a connection with the natural world.

Their summary destruction

Has been a blow

Leaving me

Feeling dislocated

Dismantling my emotions

Dismantling my sense of belonging.

What’s left? 

What’s next?

Guided by the Spirit

an answer came online

in a friend’s share:

‘Focus on building the new’.

Along with this prayer:

‘God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change

The courage to change the things I can

And the wisdom to know the difference’.