Monday, April 6, 2009

Autumn Gold

England

Australia

We have just returned from a tour of Australia's Murray-Darling River area. Bowling along in the tour coach I was constantly reminded of the England of my youth, and the Autumn colours in particular. This was odd, because my old country was damp; my new country, Australia, is, for the most part, dry. Yet the gold-green-shadowy look was very nostalgic.
My illustrations are both enhanced. The English harvest is seen through an artist's eye (and reflects my dream-time.) The Australian drought is photographed at sunset, so the gold is intensified.
 Yet both illustrations capture my mood.

Note: the Murray-Darling area has not had 'good rains' since 1993!


AUTUMN GOLD

In the damp domain where I was born
We always welcomed-in the corn.
It came and gilded everyone,
An echo of the summer sun.
The trees, still dark, though Autumn-tinted,
At a bleak and bitter Winter hinted;
Their shadows, lovely to behold,
Strewed grey-green on the corn's rich gold.
The trees so dark, the fields so bright;
They made a most enchanting sight.
*
Now, in my chosen Promised Land,
The same gold spreads on every hand.
Dry grass recalls the golden sheaves
And these trees will not lose their leaves.
The dryness brings a sense of dread;
'Drought' is a word that's best not said.
Folk take no pleasure from the scene
And yearn for farms awash with green.
Passers-by see suffering cattle,
Weary from their up-hill battle.
This glorious gold brings, with it, pain,
As a nation waits and waits for rain.
*
And yet, and yet, there lingers still
Something of that childhood thrill.
The trees, the shadows and the gold
Recall for me the days of old.
I sorrow, yet, with clarity,
I recall the joys that used to be.
*
The trees so dark, the fields so bright
Still make a most enchanting sight.
*

6 comments:

gautami tripathy said...

Awesome pictures. Liked the poem too..

SS: The Red Tent

Kill Word Verification

Mari Meehan said...

A wonderful reminder of my favorite time of the year, but just having gone through a horrendous winter I'm not at all anxious to see Autumn's return! Especially since I can read about it here!

Granny Smith said...

How lovely! My state of California has lots in common with Australia (where I once lived for a year). We are now in the midst of several years of scant rainfall, with reservoirs almost empty and some rationing in effect. Yet I love my bare brown hills of autumn when "dry grass recalls the golden sheaves."

Gemma Wiseman said...

Autumn golds do create a whispering sense of nostalgia. I have not wandered the Murray area for about 3 years now. (I used to drive from Melbourne to Sydney at least once a year to see my daughter. Now she comes to me!)

Your poem is magical, exploring that wistful mood beautifully!

Darlene said...

A lovely nostalgic poem. How often beauty masks something darker underneath.

Kat said...

Golden thoughts.
'Now' and 'then' :)