Sunday, July 18, 2010

"South of my days' circle"


Must admit that I'm a bit of a sucker for The Bush. There is something magical about sitting in between sets out the back of a beach or point break and looking shorewards seeing nothing but gnarly gum trees or coastal wallum under a clear blue winter sky. 
Reminds me of that late great Aussie poet - Judith Wright (RIP).
"South of my days' circle, part of my blood's country,
rises that tableland, high delicate outline
of bony slopes wincing under the winter,
low trees, blue-leaved and olive, outcropping granite-
clean, lean, hungry country. The creek's leaf-silenced,
willow choked, the slope a tangle of medlar and crabapple
branching over and under, blotched with a green lichen;
and the old cottage lurches in for shelter"

"Oh, they slide and they vanish
as he shuffles the years like a pack of conjuror's cards.
True or not, it's all the same; and the frost on the roof
cracks like a whip, and the back-log break into ash.
Wake, old man. this is winter, and the yarns are over.
No-one is listening
South of my days' circle.
I know it dark against the stars, the high lean country"
full of old stories that still go walking in my sleep.

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