ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Caiwarra

Coffee coloured water by a school of Coolabahs
Silhouetting moonlight and picture framing stars
The pink of dawn fumbles like a feeble legged foal
It’s daybreak on the Paroo by the big Caiwarra hole

There are memories of campfires all along the plains
And serpent-tracks of rivulets from searching summer rains
New fence-lines for the new men, old scar trees for the old
And both have found salvation in this seam of Western gold

Now yellow is between the leaves, the sky a purple hue
Ghost Gums singing softly as a gentle breeze blows through
I would trade all future travel just to see inside their soul
As they mark time on the Paroo by the big Caiwarra hole

Corellas scream into the scene and christen the new day
As sunlight reaches treetops and bleaches night away
The water's still reflections will defy the gentle flow
Making shadows for the yabbie and catfish far below

I have not known many places though I’ve traveled to a few
I have crossed a hundred paths of people that I never knew
I could search every place and man and never reach my goal
Or find it on the Paroo, by the big Caiwarra hole.

h

Rolls off the tongue like liquid gold Hully - GREAT pictures tantalising the senses ...

There was a little catch - for me, in the first stanza, third verse ...
"The pink of dawn fumbles like a feeble legged foal"
... could, "... of dawn is fumbling like a ... " smooth it out a tad?

As usual, impeccable mind pictures Hully. Your intimacy with the West glows in this piece ...

That is beautiful Hully and I loved your feeble legged foal. You bought every step of the journey to life. Thank you

Cheers

Maureen

G'day Hully...
Wonderful words, beautiful phrasing....again.

Cheers, Will.

Thanks Will, Maureen and Manny,
I am suffering heavily from the current metre/perfect rhyme/rules/regulations debate....
keep changing lines in this poem to try and make it 'fit'....every time I do I lose a little bit more....

cha

h

Yep, that's what happens alright. So ... STOP... we don't want you losing any of this, it's too good to let bits get away.

... let it go Hully, already there are a number of versions of this one on the net. Set it free and move on to the next one ...

It's beautiful as it is Hully. Enjoyed the scene.

Heather

Beautiful pictures Hully enjoyed it.

Oh check on Coolabah I think it's spelt with an I Coolibah ?

Close your eyes and drift

Gees I wish we could attach audio, then I could listen to you perform it ?

Manfred !!!!!

.... werkin on it ....