BIG WATER
Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 1:04 pm
BIG WATER … Maureen Clifford © The #ScribblyBark Poet
Deep set brown eyes peered out from ‘neath the shade of his Akubra
as he stood with one foot resting on his knee,
A nonchalant salute dispersed those pesky aussie flies
from a face of black inscrutability.
He gazed across the shimmering expanse of silver water
that recently had been dry, white salt pans.
They were still white, but now the white was Pelicans and Gulls,
thousands of feathered visitors to his land.
Lake Eyre now stretched for miles, its edges with horizon blending.
Most times a mirage was all folks did see
except this time it wasn’t; it was real and full of water.
A thing of beauty in this dry country.
He felt his countries lifeblood move, heard marsh frogs call again.
The sluggishness was gone and now it stirred,
Tiddalik had drunk greedily, quenched his thirst from the lake,
by other animals fate quite unperturbed.
But Nabunum the eel and wise old Wombat had a plan
to make Tiddalik laugh , release the water.
So all could share the bounties that the Mother had bestowed
and quench their thirst, avoiding droughts slow slaughter.
It was a Dreamtime story, heard around campfires at night,
his Grandfather had told him long ago.
He passed the story on to piccaninnies of his tribe
his own Grandchildren loved that story so.
The waters of Lake Eyre were spread for miles across three states,
meandering the Rainbow Serpents path.
Nobody knew the joke that Wombat and Nabunum told
but it must have been a good one, a good laugh.
For Tiddalik the greedy frog who drank up all the water
coughed and spluttered fit to burst – and out it came
it washed the frog to Warwick, on the River Condamine.
There’s a statue there today that bears his name.
It must have been a bloody good joke.
Footnote - Based on the Aboriginal legend of Tiddalik the greedy frog who drank all the water and would not share with the other animals, leaving them and all the plants and trees to die of thirst - until the clever Wombat came up with the idea of telling a funny story to make him laugh and open his mouth wide thus releasing the waters. There is a statue of Tiddalik alongside the Condamine River in Warwick SE Qld.
Deep set brown eyes peered out from ‘neath the shade of his Akubra
as he stood with one foot resting on his knee,
A nonchalant salute dispersed those pesky aussie flies
from a face of black inscrutability.
He gazed across the shimmering expanse of silver water
that recently had been dry, white salt pans.
They were still white, but now the white was Pelicans and Gulls,
thousands of feathered visitors to his land.
Lake Eyre now stretched for miles, its edges with horizon blending.
Most times a mirage was all folks did see
except this time it wasn’t; it was real and full of water.
A thing of beauty in this dry country.
He felt his countries lifeblood move, heard marsh frogs call again.
The sluggishness was gone and now it stirred,
Tiddalik had drunk greedily, quenched his thirst from the lake,
by other animals fate quite unperturbed.
But Nabunum the eel and wise old Wombat had a plan
to make Tiddalik laugh , release the water.
So all could share the bounties that the Mother had bestowed
and quench their thirst, avoiding droughts slow slaughter.
It was a Dreamtime story, heard around campfires at night,
his Grandfather had told him long ago.
He passed the story on to piccaninnies of his tribe
his own Grandchildren loved that story so.
The waters of Lake Eyre were spread for miles across three states,
meandering the Rainbow Serpents path.
Nobody knew the joke that Wombat and Nabunum told
but it must have been a good one, a good laugh.
For Tiddalik the greedy frog who drank up all the water
coughed and spluttered fit to burst – and out it came
it washed the frog to Warwick, on the River Condamine.
There’s a statue there today that bears his name.
It must have been a bloody good joke.
Footnote - Based on the Aboriginal legend of Tiddalik the greedy frog who drank all the water and would not share with the other animals, leaving them and all the plants and trees to die of thirst - until the clever Wombat came up with the idea of telling a funny story to make him laugh and open his mouth wide thus releasing the waters. There is a statue of Tiddalik alongside the Condamine River in Warwick SE Qld.