The Billabong

I saw a sign that clearly said
Billabong, 3 K’s ahead
Once, when I was camping with my friend
In the park at Bundjelong
The track was there; it called me on
I parted from my friend; then went
Alone along the track towards the tempting billabong

There, in the heat that hammered down
Upon the trees and all around
The dust that swept across my burning feet
I walked the K’s down quickly, then
As I wondered where and when
The promised treat would ever come
The billabong’s cool wet delight called me on again

So in the hush of noon I walked
No one with whom to walk or talk
Just thinking, in the quiet of this place
I wandered farther, round a bend
Wishing wistfully of the end
To wash away the dust from my sore feet
On the promise of the billabong this did depend

It seemed like hours and hours had passed
When finally I saw at last
The water sparkling in the noonday sun
I pushed my pace; my strides grew long
The 3 K’s sign had not been wrong
For right ahead in front of me
Were water lilies floating on a deep blue billabong

I stripped and then I plunged right through
The reeds, and water lilies too
And other things that swam beneath the flowers
Then, as that water hit my skin
I saw at once my awful sin
When something tried to pull me down
Towards the bottom of the billabong that I was in

For in this place I knew outright
I saw it clearly, in my fright
That I should not have ever ventured there
The ancient souls that guard through time
Had seen my swim and called it crime
Even though I’d made a claim
This ancient billabong belonged to them; it was not mine

I gathered up my clothes and dressed
Awed by this site so ancient-blessed
Worried, for I knew my swim disturbed
The guarding spirits of this place
That slept upon its watery face
In the quiet of their noonday rest
I quickly left the billabong in some disgrace

Years have passed since I transgressed
And swam the billabong undressed
Uninvited by the keepers of that peace
Did they forgive my awful wrong?
Had they known about me all along -
That I was unaware they kept watch there
Before I swam the waters of their wondrous billabong?


Zannie 2006