Songlines

by Sanghamitra Roychowdhury - Sagittarius

It could have been the Aboriginal equivalent of the first two chapters of Genesis
Except clans of ancestors or gods from this genealogy tree are pyramids of
Siamese sphinxes sculpted like Father Adam from beige grains of clay

Like concepts originating from greek etymology, these were poets in the original sense of poesis,
Where each totemic species scattered quatrains and couplets,
Or church hymns and dirges like stanzas and emblems of unity within 
Engraved footprints and across the embankments and creeks of Australia's parched hide.

On an ordinary walkabout, I measure the distance between relic chambers and
Sanctuaries in Moccasin county as verses from Shakesperean sonnets and
Featureless stretches of gravel and pebbles as sites separated by melodic symphonies
As Beethoven's Opus III or 1812 overture slumbering beneath the earth's surface

These are dreaming tracks of nomadic wanderers or threads binding twenty languages
Like a spaghetti of Iliad's or biblical epics painted on a ridge of sandhills and plateaus 
Or a mosaic of multi-colored hand woven quilts and braided odysseys that serve as
Channels of awareness and communication amongst faraway tribes

With memories of Radnoti in a drainage ditch while smoking hashish in Hungary, 
I imagine that it could be a benedictine monk's refutation of matter or temples of
Pure mind buddhism if the world is an illusion where the texture and contours of

Land was a musical score readable in terms of geology and songlines were
The eternally hopeful and impressionable glances of children like their towering
Sand dunes on the beach and recollections of eucalyptus inhalers
And pseudo compasses or navigational direction finders across a grid of
Scorching streets and endless rows of marigolds and sunflowers
Birth sign: Sagittarius
Date created: 2000-03-04 16:41:18
Last updated: 2021-03-03 14:41:52
Poem ID: 54932

You need to log in to edit this poem if it is yours.

View more poems by Sanghamitra Roychowdhury.