A Sonnet
Myriad of creamy spikes rising from dead
Proudly growing from charred burnt bodies
Strangely adorn spiky green grass like head
Blackboy flowers bloom after fire tragedies
Awakened by thick smoke and searing heat
Blackboys’ battle for survival comes to life
Ash rich soil is exactly what they need
They are now showing their beauty and strive
Brilliant and vivid, fluffy spikes grow in plenty
Cheering up the sombre blackened gum trees
Out of world pictures very extraordinary
Our Mother Nature’s own art specialties
Aussie’s outback glory and miracle
Thousands of grasstrees tell their life struggle
About This Poem:
On a sunny Sunday morning 29th October 2006, we went to see the blooming blackboy grass trees (Xanthorrhoea australis) in Brisbane Ranges National Park, Victoria, Australia. It was not very far from a little town called Anakie. All along the street on the side of the National Park we witnessed one real wonder of nature. Thousands of blackboy grass trees were proudly showing their tall spiky flowers towering above the green grassy head.
The sight was some kind of weird, out of this world and at the same time was just breath taking. Where anything else in that place did not show any significant life due to the fire tragedy back in January, the blackboy grass thriving on the ground that was still covered by thin layer of white ash. The heat of the fire and the ash was a very suitable condition for these plants to thrive. From the black burnt trunk, the growth spurt starts few months after the fire. The green long grass-like leaves started to grow form the top of the trunk, followed by a long spiky flower. The seeds that fell and remained in the soil before the fire also start to germinate.
It’s very good imagery. You capture the duality of life coming out of the ashes very subtley.
I saw this same sort of thing years ago after the big fires of 1987 in Yellowstone National Park. It’s inspiring to see life return after such a devastating event.
Scott Ennis, thank you for reading and commenting. To see thousands of Blackboy Flowers on that day was something that I would never forget