Emily Gap, east of Alice Springs, an ancient ceremonial site of the Aranda Aborigines.
A Wondrous Journey–Pitjantjatjara–Ayers Rock
…To witness the majesty, awe and blistering beauty of it…
Broken bottles; like broken lives litter the sides of the highway
The old road runs along aside it; as if it were the shadow of an eye
The kangaroo’s and wild game that stampede the night
Some say the wind carries a little girl’s cry
Some say she appears in apparitions on the coldest night
Beckoning you to surrender your life
A dingo howls and cries
The stories the old highway could tell
The aging car wrecks now smouldering in hell
Lives won and lost along the way
Lindy’s baby one of them…resting in a sparkle of a star
Resting in all the dreams of making it to ‘The Rock’
To witness the majesty, awe and blistering beauty of it
The old campsite buried away from peering eyes
The broken dream only seen by the eagles of the sky
Whispered over the crackling campfire tonight
The voyage to the centre of Australia can take its toll
The long silence of isolation and nothingness
The vastness can just swallow you up
To escape one madness for another
To survive the climb to the top
When over 30 people’s lives have not
The harshness of the sun scorches the earth to red sand
Aboriginals that roam and live in it
Wedged-Tail-Eagles that spread their wings
The endless nothingness that begins
‘The Rock’ burns blood red for a moment, then dims
The madness of night begins
The spirit of ‘The Rock’ angers to boil
Thus begins the descent on the unsuspecting traveller
Will it be you?
Will it be me?
The spirit roams looking…
Trees that grow glass bottles along the way
Tyre tracks that screech off from the road
In the pursuit of nowhere to go
Bullet holes shot through signs
Camels, horses, sheep, roos and cows have their own minds
Life a breadth of time
They roam free in a waterless nothing
In search of something
I ran naked through the ‘Salt Flats’
But it did not take me back
I left empty footprints next to the ‘Spirit of the Rock’
For I was already lost
I dared not climb it
For I felt the monstrous ‘Rock Spirit’ and its curse
But I knew it would not hurt
If I left it alone
Two boy spirits and a snake stood smiling from it
They had summoned the wind, and blocked entry into it
Passing car wrecks were like passing smashed dreams
The gratefulness of you and me
I will remember it like the softest and hardest kiss
It lights up the earth and everything near it
Believe it – Survive it – Enshrine it
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