After Rain

In sight of Katoomba Falls
Each tree and bush a galaxy as the falls
plummet with a vengeance, strike
sparks from the escarpment. Streams
cup boulders, swerve through undergrowth.
New leaves crowd grottos untouched by rain
as if, lacking gales or spiral gusts,
to live in that moist air were enough.
Drops dampen my hair, cool my skin,
as I remember the falls split between
day and dusk, mauve or emerald veiling
ferns on a flooded ledge. In the wind,
crimson and cobalt billowed out across
dry rock till dark closed over, that weight
of water arrowing towards a dank silence.