Island of Songs--By Neil Creighton--Australia

Island of Songs

Fraser Island sweetly sings

from serpentine streams so clear,

so unclouded and untouched

they could be water or air.

Music murmurs in mangroves,

cobalt blue of upland lake,

banksia grove, pandanas palm

and forests of coastal she-oak.

It's in the eastern wave who sings

as she washes from her sand

the tracks of 4 wheel drives

that deeply scour the land.

Even though tomorrow

the traffic will resume,

following the tide always sings

her lyrical, cleansing tune.

Yes, all day long strange music

ripples or crashes in the sea,

and high in towering treetops

come songs of exquisite beauty. 

Fraser Island is in sub-tropical Queensland, Australia. It is the largest sand island in the world and stunningly beautiful. Its eastern beach, facing the Pacific, is also its road. I try to capture its beauty using the symbol of music.

Neil Creighton is an Australian poet with a passion for social justice, a love of people and the natural world. His work as a teacher of Drama and English made him intensely aware of how opportunity is so unequally proportioned. His recent publications include Prosopisia, Poetry Quarterly, Praxis Online Mag, Silver Birch Press, Social Justice Poetry, Whispers  and "Verse-Virtual, where he is a contributing editor. He blogs at windofflowers.blogspot.com.au