from nowhere oversized leaves shoot
roundness against charred ground coal-black
that blackness a ceremonial mourning for the death
of the glacier a dark patch of density
like ground glass in the lungs
a day warms, loosens plaits untwisting
around the shoulders
almost hand-sized leaves of lucid green
emerge from burnt trunks
sandpaper on one side the other velutinous
claret shine of miniature shoots
amongst monsters
enlarged: daylight, termite mound, birdsong
compressed: coolness, moisture, twilight
plants gather clues
that augur combat
the day warms, loosens
disappearing in the restless mosaic
of eucalypt canopy
each leaf extant
holding fast