Day Flight
I closed my eyes as I sat in the jet
And asked the hostess if she would let
Me take on board a patch of sky
And a dash of the blue-green sea.
Far down below my country gleamed
In thin dry rivers and blue-white lakes
And most I longed for, there as I dreamed,
A square of the desert, stark and red,
To mould a pillow for a sleepy head
And a cloak to cover me.
Commentary
Les Murray’s strong poem while he was musing aboard an airliner reminded me of another Australian poet - Jack Davis - and his lovely poem DAY FLIGHT. You can almost hear the mighty beating heart of Australia in his lines. Only an Aboriginal poet could have written this one. He doesn’t own the land. The land owns him.
Con O’Brien (Cornelius)
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