Coal tar soap

And cigarette smoke

Drifting on the breeze

Five or six men huddle

Around a guilty fire pit

Their shoulders straighten

Defiance?

Maybe

I run past

wave

My hand at half mast

They nod in return

Solemn

I see their gathering

More than two

Public space

Even if it is hidden from view

It’s none of my business

Run on toward the sun warning of the light to come

A blazing orange horizon

Beautiful

It reminds me of the Anzac badge pinned to cockeyed hats

The dawn service and march we won’t have

I’d been thinking of those young men

Who stormed that foreign shore

The hardships they went through

Not just then

But in all the wars

Before and since

No wonder they need this

The small gatherings of men

Anzac Day 2020

Ex service

Parked caravans

Rural town

They’ve gathered here

Away from it all

Who knows which war they entered and oh so luckily exited

But one thing for certain shows

They need to be together

And that’s no one else’s business

*ANZAC day another special event fallen victim to the Corona Virus this year.

Header image: Holly Mindrup Unsplash