Dawn is a felt-board tableau
A climbing black line of silhouetted hillside
on a board of deep blue
with a crescent of waning Moon
pasted above a dark rise
Scattered starry pinpricks higher up
like distant relations of the light points
that pepper the silhouetted ridge
and a blue gum climbing black against the blue
But there are frequent telltale signs
that this board may be an upgrade
on those of 20th century childhoods
The Moon eases slowly down the blue backdrop
and the sky is lighter below
its slivered half-circle of illuminated majesty
New lights pop along the ridge
just as higher up their celestial
cousins are slowly lowering the blinds
But the clearest clue is in the sounds
A motorbike’s dawn-busting roar sparks
an alarmed exchange on nearby branches
which sinks quickly into the new day’s chorus
Soon, in a second blue gum, growing greener
an avian revival meeting erupts
birds speaking myriad crisscrossing tongues
in praise of the lightening sky
Its blue now is morning-washed
with a little of the dye running lilac
among the patchy fuzz of clouds
spreading across the board