Eddie's Country

Eddie's Country

Eddie, where are you?
Are you walkabout out west
with your brother the snake;
shedding scales on the rocks
where your blood runs to the sea?

Oh Eddie, where can you be?
Are you dancing with spirits
in gleaming desert sands?
Are generations of dancers
stamping your name
and singing
your tribal lands?

Oh Eddie, have you lost your way?
Have the songlines been stolen
and buried in the clay,
where once stood a tree
whose roots were embraced
by the life blood of man?

Oh Eddie, please don't leave.
Don't let them take you into that room
with the blood and the blanket;
with the boots and the spew.

Walk back into the sun.
sit by the fire.
Dance me my country.
Sing it anew.

Andrew Chandler

From GLW issue 293