I read your letter
it set my eyes wandering up through the valley
across the range 
to the ridge lines 
where balding bowl cut hill crests
are tufted with scattered straggly trees
crowning the world's end
punctuating each new rise above
the sparsely grassed slopes of drought
the red contour line scars of stock trails 
the parasitic rabbit eroded scars
the water scoured bare earth made vulnerable by 
the chronic deficit of deep rooted vegetation

i watched as everything shifted 
above the stars began to fall from an infinite blackening sky
a cyclone whirled into existence and tore 
the few remaining trees from the ground
violent rain drowned my streaming torrents of tears
as the granite beneath my feet shook in empathetic grief
with my wracking tremors of loss

I read your letter
the calm gave way to the storm
the lost hope gave way to despair
the finality gave way to emptiness

I read your letter
nothing would ever be the same again