dune crest wind
a single track dissolves
into red dust;
constellations lean low
as the night parrot breathes above
camel prints dissipate
along the salt-pan rim
heat lifts
old places gone—forgotten
the horizon swallows distance
spinifex hums
at twilight’s brittle edge
heat fades from the land
the stars rise further up
and all else slips from memory
long after dark
the Southern Cross steadies
its four bright points
I cannot follow their flight
only watch them vanish