A poem about Invasions and Extinctions, written for Australia Day...
posted by Neil Gaiman
Read at the Sydney Opera House, Australia Day 2011. We killed them all when we came here.The people came and burned their landThe forests where they used to feedWe burned the trees that gave them shadeAnd burned to bush, to scrub, to heathWe made it easier to hunt.We changed the land, and they were gone. Today our beasts and dreams are smallAs species fall to time and usBut back before the black folk cameBefore the white folk’s fleet arrivedBefore we built our cities hereBefore the casual genocide,This was the land where nightmares lopedAnd hopped and ran and crawled and slid.And then we did the things we did,And thus we died the things we died. We have not seen DiprotodonA wombat bigger than a roomOr run from DromornithidaeGigantic demon ducks of doomAll motor legs and ripping beaksA flock of geese from hell’s dark mawWe’ve lost carnivorous kangarooA bouncy furrier T RexAnd Thylacoleo Carnifexthe rat-king-devil-lion-thingthe dropbear fantasy made flesh.Quinkana, the land crocodileFive metres long and fast as frightWonambi, the enormous snakeWho waited by the water-holesand took the ones who came to drinkwho were not watchful, clever, bright.Our Thylacines were tiger-wolvesuntil we drove them off the mapThen Megalania: seven metersof venomous enormous lizard...and more, and more. The ones whose boneswe’ve never seen. The megafauna haunt our dreams.This was their land before mankindJust fifty thousand years ago. Time is a beast that eats and eatsgives nothing back but ash and bonesAnd one day someone else will cometo excavate a heap of stonesAnd wonder, What were people like?Their teeth weren’t sharp. Their feet were slow.They walked Australia long agobefore Time took them into tales We’re transients. The land remains.Until its outlines wash away.While night falls down like dropbears don’tto swallow up Australia Day.
Labels: australia, megafauna, dropbears
Read at the Sydney Opera House, Australia Day 2011. We killed them all when we came here.The people came and burned their landThe forests where they used to feedWe burned the trees that gave them shadeAnd burned to bush, to scrub, to heathWe made it easier to hunt.We changed the land, and they were gone. Today our beasts and dreams are smallAs species fall to time and usBut back before the black folk cameBefore the white folk’s fleet arrivedBefore we built our cities hereBefore the casual genocide,This was the land where nightmares lopedAnd hopped and ran and crawled and slid.And then we did the things we did,And thus we died the things we died. We have not seen DiprotodonA wombat bigger than a roomOr run from DromornithidaeGigantic demon ducks of doomAll motor legs and ripping beaksA flock of geese from hell’s dark mawWe’ve lost carnivorous kangarooA bouncy furrier T RexAnd Thylacoleo Carnifexthe rat-king-devil-lion-thingthe dropbear fantasy made flesh.Quinkana, the land crocodileFive metres long and fast as frightWonambi, the enormous snakeWho waited by the water-holesand took the ones who came to drinkwho were not watchful, clever, bright.Our Thylacines were tiger-wolvesuntil we drove them off the mapThen Megalania: seven metersof venomous enormous lizard...and more, and more. The ones whose boneswe’ve never seen. The megafauna haunt our dreams.This was their land before mankindJust fifty thousand years ago. Time is a beast that eats and eatsgives nothing back but ash and bonesAnd one day someone else will cometo excavate a heap of stonesAnd wonder, What were people like?Their teeth weren’t sharp. Their feet were slow.They walked Australia long agobefore Time took them into tales We’re transients. The land remains.Until its outlines wash away.While night falls down like dropbears don’tto swallow up Australia Day.
Labels: australia, megafauna, dropbears
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Tamal
(last edited Jan 31, 2014 12:46AM)
(new)
Jan 27, 2014 01:03AM
Some words seem foreign. A synopsis of the themes would be great. Any one?
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Maybe some of the words seem foreign because they're Latin words/species names for megafauna.
I rarely know what the hell he's talking about on the first shot. Let it sink in Tamal, then re-read it later. :)
How true! We are so transient. I wonder how many more of our unique species will become dust all too soon.
I first thought it was abour American Indians... But it's true to them all the same. People always tend to destroy whatever surronds them - and never think twice of how to preserve anything... And eventually, we'll all be gone, so what's the point?
Nature out of balance, no matter the cause. Man causes many extinctions, so do natural forces. It's all a matter of luck, or lack there of.
Having the text all run-together as it is here in the Goodreads feed, I feel like I should read it with ever-increasing speed and in a tone of increasingly-imminent doom.
Great descriptive poem I could see all the mythical beasts in my head. Check out my book Shattered Worlds Several Journeys of Heroes and Men. Also, check out my blog shatteredworldsthebook.com/
