About nine o'clock we saw the first smoke stain the far horizon. A soft rolling shroud of shifting white cloud above the mountains rising. Uneasy and afraid, we watched and we prayed as the clouds grew ever higher. But an hour before noon they'd blocked out the sun, and the mountains were on fire.
Bushfire. Ah, ah, bushfire.
And all through the gloom of that long afternoon, the fire fed and grew stronger. Driven by the wind, it danced 'long the mountain rims, roaring out it's anger. Fed by the breeze and the helpless trees, consuming those who bore it. It raced pell-mell from the mouth of hell, destroying all before it.
Bushfire. Ah, ah, bushfire.
Our farm, our home, and all that we owned lay in the path of that fiery river. We prayed for rain, and we cursed the wind as it drove our destruction nearer. But no words of men can bring down the rain or set the wind to turning. And around midnight we'd lost the fight, and our whole farm was burning.
Bushfire. Ah, ah, bushfire.
Through the smoke and the heat came the crying of the sheep as the flames set their wool on fire. They ran terrified, they roasted and died, their own fleece their funeral pyre. So we packed up and ran while the fire's red hand reached hungrily out to find us. While so long and hard to build and so quick and easily killed, our dreams burned down behind us.
Bushfire. Ah, ah, bushfire.
Arrogant man, he squats upon the land,1 he buys and sells and zones it. Plants his seeds, cuts down his weeds, and imagines that he owns it. For 20 years our land we cleared, we ploughed and we sowed and we tamed it. But where the bushfire has passed, there's only black ash, and Nature has reclaimed it.
1. In Australia, a squatter was someone who claims a stretch of land for himself by being the first one to settle there.
Bushfire: Bushfires in Australia are a widespread and regular occurrence that have contributed significantly to shaping the nature of the continent over millions of years. Eastern Australia is one of the most f... ⋙Teksty umieszczone na naszej stronie są własnością wytwórni, wykonawców, osób mających do nich prawa.
