Lost Voices

Lost Voices

Who will keep the words

when the tribes fade into legend and paintings on the rock face

with no voices to name the sable

or call the rain,

how will the Ancestors sing us the Songlines

back to our place?

Their wisdom is lost to the scattered Children of the grasslands

Spirits caged in the cities

dead to the dreaming of the dry desert dunes

creeping ever closer under a tearful moon

They cannot hear the west wind

whispering to itself

amongst whitening bones of the Wild ones

who had nowhere to run

from the relentless Sun

Souls are split from the Sacred

with who they once wandered

through the vast open spaces

with their herds

The old ways are dying

as the waters are drying

and the ancient forests cleared

no fist strikes the drum

to mark the ritual done

no pleas to the Thunder God

drift on dead rivers

the Children are gone

the Ancestors are still

the west wind has wandered on

What are you doing

while the Earth is dying

have you blocked out

the echo in the night

from the anguished cries

for mercy that will never come

And God – where are you

in this carnage and despair

have you given up

or are you still out there

waiting for us to come home

please send an Angel 

I’m so utterly lost

on this dark road

alone

How can I sing the Songlines

back to my place

I'm waiting lost

in the Darkness seeking Grace

I cannot hear the west wind

whispering to itself

the Ancestors’ voices are long gone

how can I sing the Songlines

how can I carry on back to my place

I'm waiting

lost in the Darkness seeking Grace

how can I sing the Songlines

the west wind has wandered on

the Ancestors voices are long gone

how can I sing the Songlines

to go back to my place

there's just bones out here

and fading drawings on the rock face

yes I'm lost in the Darkness seeking Grace. 

18 December 2024