SONGLINES
Labyrinth of impossible pathways
Meandering across Australia
Singing the Aborigines home
Singing out the names of every
Bird, bee and tree
Singing rook and river
Singing you and me
Singing all the world
Into being.
A dreaming track
A path across the land
Or sometimes the sky
Creator-Beings dreaming
Songs, stories, dances, paintings
Petrosomatoglyphs on the land
Leaving huge footprints behind
Navigating vast distances
Through the parched interior
Language no barrier
Melodic contours in song
Passing over the land
Rhythmically beating out the jives
Where the spirits of unborn children
Sing to keep the land alive
Chatwin tells us how it was
The songlines stretching across the eons
People singing their lives into existence
Following signs their ancestors
Had tuned to perfection.
Their roads invisible to us
No traces we could follow
No marks we could discern
No bulldozer dented this terrain
No tarmac spread for others gain
No buildings stacked with pure disdain
To leave wrecked nature in their wake
The lines were left to all for free
If our blinkered eyes could only see.
Yarralin, Walujapi
Black-Headed Python
Rainbow Serpent
Native Cat Dreaming
Arranda, Kaititja, Kukaja
Unmatjera, Ilpara
Ley-di-ley-di-ley
Long lines
Ley-di-ley-di-ley
Songlines
My Writing Life 
Pingback: THE SONGLINES | tomobrien2004
I remember reading Bruce Chatwin’s book; it made a lasting impression and your poem does it justice.
Incidentally, I rather like the way your closing lines finish with a swing and full-on rhymes: song-like.
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Thank you John. Delighted that you like it. I am a big fan of Chatwin’s work, and have been for many years
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Thank you for reblogging this poem. Singing all the world into being is such a hopeful concept. I love your lines:
No bulldozer dented this terrain
No tarmac spread for others gain
No buildings stacked with pure disdain
To leave wrecked nature in their wake
The lines were left to all for free
If our blinkered eyes could only see.
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thank you for you kind words, Judith. Much credit must go to Bruce Chatwin, whose wonderful book inspired me.
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glad I could help
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