bright red mortality
spews onto old-ochre dirt
as guilelessness pools
into the dreamtime drawing

black skin sweats tears
in the shade-less midday sun
while lean dusty limbs
are chiselled into the foetal position
in a paroxysm of agony and fear

the sugar sack lies open
its contents
innocuously white
mixing to a gentle pink
with the spreading tide
of crimson death

a station-owner’s gift
to the colours of the dreaming
arsenic’s metal-grey
effects its cause
.