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~~~ Numbats ~~~
I met a family of numbats,
Out walking on the track.
They carried their possessions,
In swags tied securely on their backs.
I stopped to have a chinwag,
We spoke of many things.
We talked of things like politics,
And of Presidents and Kings.
The smallest of the numbats,
Came up and sat by me.
He asked if there was a reason,
Why we cut down all the trees.
I said, I did not know the answer,
But I said I knew for sure.
That if I was the man in charge,
They'd cut down trees no more.
As a tear fell from his eye,
He cried it is too late.
Numbats will be never more,
We're destined to our fate.
November 11, 1997
~~ 18 ~~
~~~ Silence ~~~
He loves to sit and listen,
The silence, is rather special,
His mind goes back to younger days,
But his eyes are growing dim now,
It's time to have a rest he says,
He lies upon his dusty swag,
November 12, 1997
~~ 47 ~~
~~~ Dreams of Plenty ~~~
The flies were buzzin' in me eyes, as, I dropped me swag on to the ground,
I was feelin' pretty weary as I opened up me swag.
Then as me billy boiled, I thought of the things I'd done,
I guess I musta' dozed a bit I musta' nodded off,
And I owned the flamin' racehorse, that won the Melbourne Cup,
So, I guess that I had everythin', everythin' I'd ever need,
Then, I awoke with such a start, I jumped up and looked around,
But when I think about that dream and all the things I had,
December 18, 1997
~~ 53 ~~
~~~ Desert Sands ~~~
The red sands of the desert,
I've spent many days there,
It may look in-hospitable,
The red sand and the spinifex,
And to see the setting of the sun,
The Desert Peas and Everlastings,
Nothing moves within the day,
At night is when they hunt and move,
Geckos, bugs and beetles,
I see all of GOD's, own creatures there,
February 3, 1998
~~ 58 ~~
~~~ Who Owns It ~~~
When the days of gold was young,
They travelled through the heat and flies;
They carried their belongings,
They opened up this country.
But when you think about it,
Many of these tough prospectors,
Everyone gets greedy,
The black man who's, not really black,
But if you and I would ever ask,
They would say they can't remember,
February 8, 1998
~~ 100 ~~
~~~ Lost ~~~
I'd seen him in a city park,
So I stopped and sat beside him,
"Well it is your lucky day," I said,
The waitress bought our tucker,
"I grew up in the mountains,
"We lived on roo and rabbits,
"That only seems like yesterday,
"They never got no hand outs,
He said, "I'm ninety two next week,"
The old man closed his eyes and said,
That my friends, is not a lie,
March 21,1998
~~ 112 ~~
~~~ Tears ~~~
No matter how he tries and tries,
His tears come from many dreams,
He tries to stop, the dreams, to let them go,
I'm sorry 'bout the way I get,
Those dreams my love, just will not go,
I'm not proud, of what I've done,
Time will come and time will pass,
April 29, 1998
~~ 119 ~~
~~~ Years Gone By ~~~
Looking back to years gone bye,
I've seen the sunrise in The Alice,
I pushed road trains through to Darwin,
Fifty mile an hour, with three trailers,
I went west to work at Hermannsburg,
I've been with the full bloods of the desert,
I leant their tribal customs,
Then I was taken from there,
It's all too hard to understand,
I am like so many, who;
But that was many years ago,
I close my eyes and picture,
May 11, 1998
To the night-bird and the quail.
The wind, and to the crickets,
But! The silence, it prevails.
To a man who's all alone.
It makes him think and ponder,
About the things that he has known.
When he was just a lad.
He thinks about those happy days,
When things were not so bad.
And his hearing's not the best.
His back is bent, his legs are weak,
It's time he had a rest.
I would really like to go.
And meet my mum and dad again,
Who died so long ago.
And wipes the tears from his eyes.
Then dreams about the happiness,
He had in days gone by.
I've been walkin' on this blessed track from sunrise to sundown.
It was time to boil the billy, I'd better cook some tucker too,
'Cos I could see it was getting late, by the risin' of the moon.
Then I filled me billy up from me tattered water bag.
So I lit meself a fire, looked for somethin' I could cook,
Me tucker-bag was nearly bare, things were getting pretty crook.
I have a grown daughter and I have a grown son.
Their mother has a city job workin' for her dough,
But me their dad, is stuck out here with no-where else to go.
For I dreamt I'd won the lotteries and was actin' like a toff.
I was livin' in a castle, with lots of motor cars,
And I entertained the Premier as we smoked ten bob cigars.
And I won the Aussie Open with a hundred-meter putt.
And I had the fastest speedboat and I had the biggest plane,
And I had a gold umbrella to protect me from the rain.
Me tucker-bag was always full I'd never miss another feed.
Me billy can was sparklin' clean, it looked like it was new,
And I'll never have to walk those tracks with grass shoved in me shoe.
Me billy it was on its side with the tea soaked in the ground.
Me fryin' pan was in the fire and me tucker it was burnt,
So I guess I'll have to go without, another lesson learnt.
It makes me really wonder, and I s'pose it makes me sad.
I'd miss the bush, I'd miss the tracks, I'd miss the wide blue sky,
And I'd never find that magic place where bushmen go to die.
Hold many splendid things.
The Simpson and the Gibson,
From summer through to spring.
From June right through to May.
It looks just like creation,
At the dawning of each day.
To those from other parts.
But to me it's just like heaven,
It brings happiness to my heart.
The heat, the sun and flies.
The wind it blows across the dunes,
As a hawk lets out its cries.
Across the desert plain.
And to smell the wind that tells you,
It's the coming of the rain.
With colours from red to gold.
They flower when the rains come,
A wondrous sight to hold.
'Cept man and maybe beast.
Cos if they did, they'd die there,
The sun would have a feast.
When the air is cool and still.
Scorpions, snakes and spiders,
All looking for their fill.
Native rat and centipede.
The owls, and the night hawks,
All looking for a feed.
Scurrying to and fro.
They've all been here, since time begun,
And they'll be there, when I go.
In this country called Australia;
Few prospectors, found their dreams,
But none of them were failures.
And fought off thirst and blacks.
They walked the desert and the scrub,
Where ne'er there was a track.
Dishes, shovels, picks and swag.
They travelled mostly just on foot,
And an empty tucker-bag.
Where few would go or stay,
They found all of the riches,
That made this country great today.
Of all the trepidation's they went through,
Why do we fight between ourselves,
To stop their dreams from coming true?
If they were alive today,
Would see what we were doing,
And hide their heads in shame.
And tells you lots of lies,
About who really owns the land,
Is it you or is it I?
Claims the land belongs to him.
They paint a pretty picture,
Then make every thing look grim.
These ones that say they're black,
If it was them that really did,
Come from Australia's great outback.
It was so very long ago,
But it really must be true,
Cos those white lawyers told us so.
A lost and lonely soul,
His clothes were worn but spotless;
And shoes were full of holes.
His back was bent; his beard was white,
He mumbled to no one,
The city folk, walked past with haste,
And pointed to him in fun.
And asked, how was he today,
He looked at me with clear blue eyes,
And with sadness he did say.
"G'day mate, I'm not to bad,"
His face it wore a frown,
"I haven't had a decent feed,
Since I came to town."
"I was just about to eat,
Why don't you accompany me,
Com'on get on ya' feet.
Will ya' join me in a meal,
It's not damper or billy tea,
But! it will fill your belly up,
Just you wait and see."
And we got stuck into our grub,
He said, "Ya' know when I was young,
I lived out in the scrub'.
The bush is where I grew up,
It was the only place I knew,
Now I'm stuck here in this city,
I'm lost and don't know what to do."
Where the trees grow straight and tall,
Me dad he built a home for us,
He had no help at all.
He built it from bush timber,
That he had cut by hand,
Then he toiled from dawn to dusk,
Clearing timber off that land."
And the few veggies that we grew,
We only had one set of clothes,
And we never had no shoes.
Bush fires, droughts and floods destroyed,
The very little that we had,
We had to fight for everything,
But I 'spose, things were not so bad."
Time sure flies you know,
Me mum and dad they passed away,
So many years ago.
They died as poor as paupers,
For all the work they did,
They worked that ground for sixty years,
And never made a quid."
When things, they did go wrong,
They had to battle tooth and nail,
All the way along.
People get it easy now,
If they have to work they moan,
The government just pats their backs,
And pays them, to sit at home."
And a tear came to his eye,
"Back to the mountains I must go,
So that I can die.
Me mum and dad are waiting there,
For me to come back home,
I promised them that I'd be back,
And I'd never more would roam."
"Please, don't let them bury me,
In the city when I die,
In the mountains I must be."
He gave a sigh and looked at me,
There was nothing else he said,
He closed his eyes, fell to his side,
I knew that he was dead.
And that promise I did keep,
I took him to his mountains,
For his eternal sleep.
I buried him next to the place,
Where his mum and dad did lay,
I'll not forget, that lonely man,
Until my dying day.
To keep the tears from his eyes.
His tears come from deep inside,
From the memories that he tries to hide.
Dreams of the past makes his mind scream.
Dreams of war and of the dead,
Keeps pounding, pounding in his head.
But the pain he has, just grows and grows.
He cries please God, make them stop,
Before I crack, and blow my top.
I told you of this, when we first met.
About my past, the things I've done,
When they gave, to me that gun.
I guess in my face, it sometimes show.
I'm full of pain, of this you see,
I wish those dreams, would let me be.
I cannot hide, I cannot run,
From the feelings that I have inside,
The pains of the past, I cannot hide.
Trees will grow so will the grass.
But of those dreams will I be free,
Or will they forever, punish me.
I reflect on what I've seen.
The roads that I have taken,
And the places I have been.
And the, Todd River over flow.
I've seen snow on the Macdonald's,
And dam near nearly froze
With a R600 Mack.
A thousand mile up there,
And a thousand miles back.
Was all the Mack could do.
When she was fully loaded,
And when she was empty too.
To help build the Mission there.
The heat and flies and dust storms,
Was, some-times too much to bear.
And seen their dream-time ways.
I've been with them on walk-about,
That lasted many days.
And the way that they do think.
And how to find some tucker,
And all the water I could drink.
To denial and deceit.
I learnt how to hate and how to kill,
And learnt all about defeat.
Why we were there at all.
It showed the world how easy,
The mighty, they can fall.
Wake at night with screams.
As the memories come rushing back,
To me within my dreams.
When I was young you see.
It's really hard to imagine now,
That's how it used to be.
All those days gone by.
As I sit, and wait in solitude,
For my time to die.