Playlist and Image by Warrigal Mirriyuula

South Of My Days

Judith Wright

South of my days’ circle, part of my blood’s country,

rises that tableland, high delicate outline

of bony slopes wincing under the winter,

low trees, blue-leaved and olive, outcropping granite –

clean, lean, hungry country. The creek’s leaf-silenced,

willow choked, the slope a tangle of medlar and crabapple

branching over and under, blotched with a green lichen;

and the old cottage lurches in for shelter.

O cold the black-frost night. The walls draw in to the warmth

and the old roof cracks its joints; the slung kettle

hisses a leak on the fire. Hardly to be believed that summer

will turn up again some day in a wave of rambler-roses,

thrust its hot face in here to tell another yarn –

a story old Dan can spin into a blanket against the winter.

Seventy years of stories he clutches round his bones.

Seventy summers are hived in him like old honey.

Droving that year, Charleville to the Hunter,

nineteen-one it was, and the drought beginning;

sixty head left at the McIntyre, the mud round them

hardened like iron; and the yellow boy died

in the sulky ahead with the gear, but the horse went on,

stopped at the Sandy Camp and waited in the evening.

It was the flies we seen first, swarming like bees.

Came to the Hunter, three hundred head of a thousand —

cruel to keep them alive — and the river was dust.

Or mustering up in the Bogongs in the autumn

when the blizzards came early. Brought them down; we brought them

down, what aren’t there yet. Or driving for Cobb’s on the run

up from Tamworth — Thunderbolt at the top of Hungry Hill,

and I give him a wink. I wouldn’t wait long, Fred,

not if I was you. The troopers are just behind,

coming for that job at the Hillgrove. He went like a luny,

him on his big black horse.

Oh, they slide and they vanish

as he shuffles the years like a pack of conjuror’s cards.

True or not, it’s all the same; and the frost on the roof

cracks like a whip, and the back-log breaks into ash.

Wake, old man. This is winter, and the yarns are over.

No-one is listening.

South of my days’ circle

I know it dark against the stars, the high lean country

full of old stories that still go walking in my sleep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kuxwXg0Nmg

Carla Bley & Escalator Over The Hill Hotel Overture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQNkFmgyzI

Gato Barbieri Last Tango In Paris

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFWRbXFZvvY&feature=fvst

Mahavishnu Orchestra Vision Is A Naked Sword

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBO2iPDfolY

Hatfield And The North Lobster In Cleavage Probe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKlAIhuXRLE

Frank Zappa Peaches En Regalia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1NqkFKqt3c

SPK The Garden of Earthly Delights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wivo94ylmhE

Keith Jarrett Köln Concert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUUGut4M8Ig

King Crimson The Peacock’s Tale

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUsTY0d1L38

Bo Hansson Solen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0NPlrhINxI

The Durutti Column Sketch For Summer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVZq9Lk2hYQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emd0vJfyk2E&feature=fvwrel

Miles Davis Concierto de Aranjuez Parts 1 & 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEAb8JNfvXs&feature=fvst

Bernard Herrmann Concerto Macabre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlM1XEIWhsU

FourPLay String Quartet Reptillia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCMotJ4R24k

Bruce Smeaton Realm of The Universe (from “Iceman”)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9kPIp4MtX0

Brian Eno Music For Airports

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1iR965rexM&feature=fvst

Ryuichi Sakamoto Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl1FnycngW8&feature=fvst

Art of Noise Moments In Love (Quiet Storm)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72d5-xP5SnM

Grace Jones & Trevor Horn Slave To The Rhythm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3nu-qmxM0w

Blood Sweat & Tears Sometimes In Winter

 

Keywords: Carla Bley & Escalator, Gato Barbieri, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Hatfield And The North, Frank Zappa, SPK, Keith Jarrett, King Crimson, Bo Hansson, The Durutti, Miles Davis, Bernard Herrmann, FourPLay String Quartet, Bruce Smeaton, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakamoto,  Art of Noise, Grace Jones, Trevor HornBlood, Sweat & Tears