Smoking Ceremony Leaf

SMOKING CEREMONY LEAF


I heard that she'd
been out hours to find
that most special leaf

so when the smoking
vessel came before me
I sniffed it hard

even bowed my head
over its protrusions
of burning green

with a finger pinch
that fell into my hands
like raw smoke before the fire

and immediately recognised
its known aromatic face by the nose
as a type of common dogwood

scrub, or Cassinia, a bland-enough
craggy old tree-daisy that regenerates
on any abused or disturbed lands

and does not live long, such
as is most usually despised back home
for its neglect, or lucklessness,

like a settler's failure, or grief;
and yet the smoke curled around
our heads as if it was

some great frankincense
and a gift of previously-unmet mysterious Magi
from even further east.


* * *
- Santa Teresa, Northern Territory