Occasionally, Far North Queensland experiences the full force of a Category Five cyclone (also known as a hurricane or typhoon). Their strength is phenomenal, as can be the damage caused, and I certainly would not like to be out on the battered Barrier Reef in one.

 

The Reefs of Armageddon

Warm and deadly waters shine like beaten silver

wrapped 'round kaleidoscope cays in the morning Trades,

a world of angels, where dashing parrotfish parade -

hunter and hunted in dances of death, gathered together

in jousts for survival, the taker and the giver.

Cirrus curves the mare's tail sky, feathered threats delayed:

the measured swish, a slough of bubbling sand displayed.

Soon comes the thunder, roaring to deliver

to Saxon Reef a tumult hissing, foaming, cyclonic,

incessant; insane visitation upon its ordered ways.

Combers pound the coral, flattening, cracking apart

life's rythms: smash and tumble, spit and flick

aside its living frame. . . Morning light, and the sky's ablaze

as the broken reef reels back, lost like a drowning ark.

 

Chris Hubbard, 2018

Louth, England