NULLARBOR DREAMING
© Brenda Joy, 2010
Winner 2011, ‘Boree Log Award’ Fellowship of Australian Writers, Eastwood/Hills, NSW.
Where the surge of Oceana’s mighty forces
gains its power through the winds Antartic born
as the waves that crash Ceduna’s rugged coastline
curve the banks of sands by time and weather torn,
we anticipate our patriotic journey
into barren, treeless place where eagles reign,
for it’s part of our Australian ‘Right of Passage’
to be stirred to cross the Nullarbor’s vast plain.
Wide horizon spreads its full expanse around us
punctuated by a single rocky crop
with the derelict remains of stone-walled homestead
only sign of long forgotten wayside stop.
We are conscious of the breadth of our great country
as the steps of past explorers we retrace
with black ribbon highway making no impression
on the grandeur of this land’s extensive space.
Reaching crags that sharply drop in regal splendour
it’s as if the very edge of Earth is found.
Permeated with the glow of winter sunlight,
we can feel our heartbeats pulse to ocean’s pound.
Where the southern whales give nurture to their new born
near the Bunda Cliffs that mark the Head of Bight,
where the shoreline cavalcades toward the distance,
we are constantly aware of Nature’s might.
With the cries of sea-linked birds that pierce the seedbeds
navigating facets of façade so steep,
far below a playful family of dolphins
penetrates productive pleasures of the deep.
Through the phases of the cycles of the daylight,
from the soft embracing subtleness of dawn
to the clarity of edges cut by noon-light
to the radiance before the night is born.
All the while these cliffs of Bunda change their colours
from the pinks to rustic reds to glows of gold,
each rendition captivating in its splendour
as the layers of its variance unfold.
We absorb this sculptured spectacle around us.
It imbeds within our hearts forever more,
for the love of Nature’s realm is overwhelming
where the Bundas skirt the Aussie Bight’s great shore.
There are magic sites on earth where awe puts focus
on the marvels that Creation can unfold
and this age-old limestone region lies in waiting
like a slumbering giant carved from times untold.
Though we’ve left this pristine wilderness of beauty
where the sunlight blazes and the moonlight gleams,
we go forth transformed by reverential wonder,
whilst the ancient plain of Nullarbor just dreams.
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