Bulla Cemetery, Victoria

Every three minutes a distant fizz

prepares you for the incoming roar

landing gear unfolds

all talk drowned

engulfed in sound

sunrise to sunset

circus people are buried here

showmen and whip-crackers

clowns and bareback riders

Ferris wheel and big top

etched in gold

in black marble, a carousel pony

a golden angel stands guardian

bunches of incense at a Buddhist grave

and at surrounding headstones

more yellow sticks with blackened tips

placed by family to pay respect

to the neighbours

in the washed clean bite of July

in a year like no other

the north-south approach is silent

travel plans shelved indefinitely

cemetery occupants rest in eternal peace

and quiet