Songs of the Outback

In the heart of the outback, under the vast azure sky,

Where the red earth whispers tales of days gone by,

There stands an elder, wise and revered,

A custodian of dreams, in a land sun-seared.

With skin etched by time, like the ancient land,

His eyes hold the stories of a timeless sand,

In his voice, the echo of the didgeridoo,

Singing the songlines, old yet forever new.

Around the fire, beneath the southern stars' glow,

He speaks of the Dreamtime, in words soft and slow,

Sharing legends of the Emu in the Milky Way,

And the Rainbow Serpent, from the faraway.

His hands, gnarled like the ghost gum trees,

Craft tales of the billabongs and honeyed bees,

Guiding the young with the lore of the past,

In a land where time moves slow, not fast.

Here, where the kangaroo bounds free,

And the eagle soars high, wild and spree,

The elder stands, a bridge between earth and sky,

A living testament to the days gone by.

So listen to the wind in the spinifex sea,

Hear the whisper of the elder, the spirit key,

For in his stories, the outback breathes and lives,

In each word, the wisdom of the ages gives.

© Peter Pickering 2024. www.peterpickering.com