Ashes Poetry

On Monday 3rd August 2009
after the departure of four of their team
Clarke and North guided Australia from nine hours
to safety. Navigating under the Southern Cross
in the northern hemisphere they reached haven
through diligence, application and no small measure
of audacity which brings its own fortune

On Sunday 21st April 1861
Burke and Wills reached Cooper’s Creek
nine hours after their team-mates had departed.
Supplies were left but strength meagre,
playing a harsher game for more serious stakes,
the exploration of Australia,
they died. Audacity brings its own fortune
and is a bitter impotent spectator