A little black girl approaches
Skinny fingers running along corrugated tin walls
Bare footed
Kicking an empty cigarette packet
Along the old boarded veranda
Her eyes like flickering candle flames
Trying to avoid contact with him
He is someone
Tribally
Beyond reproach
Whilst her stomach bulges with his last effort at love
His last great promise to her
That his lust would lead to marriage
Indecent currency out here
It seems
For a little black princess
And she cries for the child
He has abandoned
At sixteen she tried mature conversation
A wasted time
An optimistic love
He just smiled and walked away
A wry smile
And another aboriginal child
Thrives on the mercy of luck
And she still kicks the cigarette packet
Bare footed
Along the boarded veranda
And disappears