Homework 5th April - Dim Recollection
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:00 pm
I thought I'd posted this already but I must've been in a daze...wouldn't be the first time! Anyway, it turns out I HAVE passed through this area after all. It was just once, very brief, and many years ago...so this is addressed to you all, with thanks for ringing the distant bells of memory!
Dim Recollection
You’ve written of a place between the Coorong and the sea—
a special place now ringing bells in distant memory,
reminding me how once, just briefly on a summer’s day
we passed the National Park and saw such birdlife there at play;
those oystercatchers, pelicans and teals attracted me—
all safe within their refuge where the Murray met the sea.
A peaceful languor reigned and there was stillness all around,
the birdsong as they flew or splashed about the only sound.
We’d driven through a heatwave that had beggared all belief—
the ruthless sun a spy in sky presenting no relief.
But with your words, I’m picturing the contrast of a scene
where frenzied winds are howling and it’s not at all serene.
I too can clearly see the bending boobyalla bush,
and feel the ocean swelling with its endless pull and push,
as if these images are lying right before my eyes
whilst thick black fog of rolling smoke approaches from the skies.
Instead of calm and silence there’s white water, misty spray,
sand flying through the air and nature’s wild side on display!...
Mere stop along the road back then, I’m eager to explore
when next we travel down that way, and learn a whole lot more
of history and complex wetlands—threatened now it seems—
endangered habitats and species, loss of flow in streams;
return to view again that most enchanting sanctuary
where Murray meets the ocean, and the birds fly wild and free.
© Catherine Lee, March 2021
Dim Recollection
You’ve written of a place between the Coorong and the sea—
a special place now ringing bells in distant memory,
reminding me how once, just briefly on a summer’s day
we passed the National Park and saw such birdlife there at play;
those oystercatchers, pelicans and teals attracted me—
all safe within their refuge where the Murray met the sea.
A peaceful languor reigned and there was stillness all around,
the birdsong as they flew or splashed about the only sound.
We’d driven through a heatwave that had beggared all belief—
the ruthless sun a spy in sky presenting no relief.
But with your words, I’m picturing the contrast of a scene
where frenzied winds are howling and it’s not at all serene.
I too can clearly see the bending boobyalla bush,
and feel the ocean swelling with its endless pull and push,
as if these images are lying right before my eyes
whilst thick black fog of rolling smoke approaches from the skies.
Instead of calm and silence there’s white water, misty spray,
sand flying through the air and nature’s wild side on display!...
Mere stop along the road back then, I’m eager to explore
when next we travel down that way, and learn a whole lot more
of history and complex wetlands—threatened now it seems—
endangered habitats and species, loss of flow in streams;
return to view again that most enchanting sanctuary
where Murray meets the ocean, and the birds fly wild and free.
© Catherine Lee, March 2021