Eel Creek

The sudden violent downpour on the coast
That soaked the surfers, paddlers,
Bleeping beachcombers,
Filled the creek that had been
Entombed,
Pouring from its concrete pipe mouth
A dirty flood that
Cut a thick V-shaped
Gouge
Across the sand

The gushing silty water
Carried leaves,
Branches, twigs, worms,
Drowned insects,
Tumbling to the waves,
Shards of shimmering
Plastic wrapper
That a fishing Tern
Swooped on
And then disgustedly
Rejected

And among the mess and foam
A snake-belt buckling against
The current,
The silvered slithering
Of an eel
Which writhed and turned
In febrile opposition
Against itself,
It moved sideways, backward,
Longward to the advancing salty tide

For a moment
I stupidly considered
Helping this poor
Washed-out creature
Regain the safety
Of the pipe pool
It had come from,
But then the eel
U-turned,
Flicked a strong and slimy tail
And disappeared itself
Into the deep

It was far more
Wise than I was,
For it could sense
The coming rains
That would not stop
For weeks,
The further floods
That would lubricate
Its submerged migration
Through
Broken Bay and onward
To the far-off Coral Sea
To spawn and die

It was far, far, more
Wise than I was,
Having traversed
These smells
This path before,
On some previous
Torrential day
When
As a sliver
Of transparent elver
It had wriggled
With desperate determination
Across the flooded beach,
Climbed
Concrete pipe mouth
And storm drain
To feed amongst
The sweet and fertile waters
Of the creek.