Mining Town Prayer

Six months and my hitch is up
And I’ll only take with me
The red bauxite dust
On the soles of my shoes.

6 months
180 greasy takeaways
1080 green cans
360 quick ones off the wrist.

Don’t let me die
In this bare bessa brick bedroom
With the smell of the Arafura Sea
Wafting through rusty fly-wire.

'Cause if I do
My ghost will stay
Lost eternally
In a temporary landscape.