End of the Road

Anthony Mills

This winter seems colder, 
you can see it in the way
the trees shiver their last
leaves, the way the earth,
lying heavily, refuses to touch 
them when they fall.

Everything is ice and dirty
white. Clouds tangle, mist 
smudges the eyes, vision 
constrained to the middle 
ground. Walkers amble 
the roads, rugged within 
their loneliness, the echoes 

of their feet beat under-ground. 
The day circles darkness, wilting 
light running black lanes, 
a sharp wind throwing spasms 
of rain, bits of bird voice 
dart from roost trees.

I walk to the end of the road
where the quarry begins
wondering how I grew old
so quickly.
A wallaby bends to touch 
the ground with its forehead

before it darts away forever.	

Biography:  Anthony Mills lives in the southern highlands of NSW. He spent most of his working life as a public health worker in the area of physical and mental health well-being. For a number of years he managed a WHO project in the Illawarra called ‘Healthy Cities’.