Black field cricket sings
At night
Over the now gentle paddocks,
That earlier we stumbled and tramped over
Walking the eel path.
Around the campfire
I hear the plaintive refrain
Toorook, Toorook
A Gunditjmara songman sounds the name of
An endangered native potato
By day
The cricket shelters
Multiplying in every hollow and crack of earth,
Turned and churned for pasture
Standing guard over the sensuous curve of the waterways
Which echo the form of the Kooyang*,
Are the eloquent messengers of time past
Scar trees , silent witness, still watching
Kooyang
Make his ancient journey
All the way from the Coral Sea
to the heart of this Country.
* Eel in Gunditjmara
2 comments:
Beautiful Austin.
Well well told. ;-)
Thanks Sonnyboy, that means a
lot coming from you :)
Post a Comment