Australia Stories

When she'd first arrived, the Valley was beautiful. It was Summer and everywhere glowed and baked and sung. The leaves on the trees blanced to white and yellow, the grapevines sagged to the soil, heavy with juice. Surfers rolled in from the coast with the tastes of salt and hot chips and Coca-Cola, and couples flowed through for wine tastings and kangaroo dinners, the shops closed at four, children rode their bikes throug...

  The noon-time silence is complete, As sleepy felines laze replete On antique terracotta tiles And in doorways of many styles. Warmly the polished granites glow, Gone is the human ebb and flow, Only the shadows, dark and deep, Across the city slowly creep. Breezes languish, the leaves are still; Here is imposed a mighty will That lulls the empty streets to sleep, There in the dusty heat to keep, Until the sun’s oppressiv...