Written piece
This is a land of sounds
Jane E Sullivan
Australia
About this piece
This is piece tries to express some of what I hear in the Australian community, today. It's a personal perspective at a particular time. It's open to interpretation and dispute. There is much more to say and always more to hear. As citizens we all need to listen and to speak up.
This is a land of sounds.
Of time before time, a silence pierced by nature’s choristers, by animal and bird voices, calling.
Of winds howling, whispering, of hissing fires, rains bursting, waves pounding.
Of tribal languages, stories, gestures, of rituals, life.
This was a land of presence, not absence
Newness disembarks, bringing sounds unknown, human and not, brutal and mild.
Time collapses.
The time, after the ancient time, heralded out into the vastness.
Questions asked and not.
Little listening, little waiting, little wondering.
This is a land of wailing, of lament, weeping, of dulcet descants.
More and more languages arrive, unfamiliar, muted, quiet then fuller.
This is a land of sounds.
Of welcoming words, of outright slander, insults and admiration, mercy and fear.
Of open arms, of closed hearts, and in between.
Of thundering cheers, of anguished sobs, defeated groans, anthems disputed, amended.
A land of loud arguments, private doubts, soft dialogues, of hopeful talk.
A land of singing songs of life, light and darkness.
Happy and proud lyrics create a national reprise.
Mutterings, murmurings, shouting, and pontificating grind along.
Pleas and praise for all manner of things ring out.
This is a land where some voices are heard.
This is a land that falls silent.