New Year Sign

by EARL LIVINGS

Ballarat State Forest, 2015

Disturbed by footsteps on the dead
leaves and fallen twigs, a path
no trail bike has fouled,

the dragonfly swoops past me,
weaves through bracken, alights
on a tall, green, articulated bush
that looks nothing like it.

Maybe it hopes its long,
tapering, speckled brown body
incarnates a twisted dead leaf
caught in the spiky green,

though when light strikes
those outstretched, quivering,
delicate double wings, the leaf
becomes an iridescent cross.

Not even time moves.
Two pairs of startled eyes
stare across the path
awaiting revelation.

Patience falls to curiosity.
Shadows shift. Breeze wanders.

As soon as I move closer,
the cross becomes a dagger
in flight, hilt away from me.