The Bush Curlew

The Bush Curlew 

 

Such a haunting, mournful crying in the middle of the night,

Standing midst the shadows, mostly out of sight,

I can feel your presence near me and I wonder how you know,

That my heart is crying also as the sad notes come and go.

 

Are you looking for a soulmate to share your busy life?

Just some other creature free from worries, stress and strife,

Does the moonlight stir your sadness and evoke a somber wail.

A cry that might be answered from further down the trail?

 

Your speckled feathered plumage and your lengthy curving bill,

Make you hard to notice when you’re quiet and standing still.

It takes a while to see you – we try not to give you fright.

We know you’re out there somewhere when we hear you in the night.

 

You really are a shy one – you blend among the trees,

Your piercing eye is watchful as it moves around and sees

That all is safe, but if we should intrude upon your space,

You will pause, be very wary, and leave without a trace.

 

You are part of our vast landscape, Aussie to the core,

Your habitat is threatened as we clear land more and more.

You make me feel protective of what you represent,

Your call is from the bushland and all that it has meant.

 

 

Mountainous Adventure

Mountainous Adventure

            I love driving through mountainous terrain, with the snow capped peaks rising above me; the sheer drop to the ice cold mountain stream below. Somehow they have carved a road through the solid rock. A road so precarious it is dangerous enough to be safe. Each rocky projection you negotiate provides a panoramic view which unfolds before you like a living calendar.

            However, this trip was proving to be different. I had had a bad feeling about it before I started out, and should have listened to my instincts. The further I travelled the less it looked like the map I had, no matter which way I turned it and it was getting later and later. Too late to turn back now, it came as some relief when, negotiating a rocky outcrop, I found a Village tentatively clinging to the side of the mountain.

            Being mid-winter I decided to find lodgings before it got too late, so stopped and asked the only person I saw on the street if he could direct me to a Hotel. As the mist rolled down from the mountains and darkness stole the last rays of light from the sky he yelled, “Get out of town!!,

  Get out of town now!! It’s the mid winter solstice. You can hear the slamming of bolts as the people of the village secure their doors and shutter their windows, though all in vain.

  Can’t you sense the fear in the air? This is the night the Ice Men come down from their frozen caves on the mountain to steal maidens from the village, for entertainment and to fill their larders for another year. It is the night the whole community dreads for none are safe. These men are un-stoppable and no one knows who will be missing in the morning”.

            As he disappeared into the night, I looked around for somewhere to hide or take refuge. Fear chilled me to the very bone. I could feel the Ice Men getting closer and closer. It got colder and colder and I could feel their foul breath on my face. Frozen to the spot with fear

  I could not move. Suddenly a cold wet tongue licked straight up my face.

            I screamed!!!

            I wake up. The bed covers on the floor, the cold air conditioner blowing straight at me, and my faithful dog licking my face, so I’d take him outside for a leg up.

            Thank God, it was only a dream!!